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Jury Finds Bratt Man Not Guilty Of Child Molestation
March 29, 2010
A Bratt man has been found not guilty of molesting a four-year girl in 2000.
It took an Escambia County jury just 95 minutes to return the not guilty verdict against Perry Leonard Gibbs, 53, of 5451 Still Road Lot 5 in Bratt, on charges of molesting a child under the age of 12.
If convicted, Gibbs would have faced a maximum penalty of life in prison.
A teen female told the investigators under oath that Gibbs molested her in 2000 when she was four and five years old, according to Sgt. Ted Roy with the Escambia County Sheriff’s Department. The victim told investigators that the molestation occurred in the Walnut Hill area. The teen female made the allegations in May of 2009, accord to Roy.
Gibbs had been jailed since his June 16, 2009, arrest date. He was freed by Judge Nickolas Geeker after the not guilty verdict was returned.
Comments
31 Responses to “Jury Finds Bratt Man Not Guilty Of Child Molestation”
To MOM & VICTIM:
As a sexual abuse survivor myself and helped put my father away for two life terms. I can tell you that I didn’t come forward the first time I was approached by LEO in 1988, but in 1998 my father once again preyed upon little children and got caught because of one of the children told their parents. It was then that my husband told the investigators about my abuse. My mother all those years never said anything after finding the proof of the abuse. I was told that I was old enough to know better instead of being protected.
I guess what I am wanting to say is please continue counseling and continue to have faith in the LORD. Perry’s day will come because I promise you if he did this once he will do it again. It is a never ending cycle with these kind of people. Please know that my thoughts and prayers are with you and your family. Brighter days do lie ahead I promise!
To all of you who said to seek counseling, you are so right! We did this before anything else. The counselor is the one who reported this. By Fl. law, our child could not receive counseling unless this was done. The authorities came to our home investigating this. In addition to the emotional pain this caused our family, we had to miss work, make many trips to Pensacola, and pay 60$ an hour counseling fee in trying to help her deal with this. We would not do this for no reason! She is still going to counseling only not as often as at first (which was once a week) and she is doing much better. We have the faith that God is going to work even this for our good! Roman’s 8:28. I would like to encourage people to check out the child molesting statistics on line. Here are a few:
1. 33% of girls and 14% of boys will be molested by the age of 18 2.Only 1 in 10 will report it. Most children don’t tell anyone. Please talk to your children!
Our judicial system is neither good or fair,but it is the only one we have.There has been a mockery of the system for years and i doubt it is going to get better.Sad to say,the victim is very rarely vindicated.The guilty are set free on technicalities,while the victims are left to pick up the pieces.I do not know if this man is guilty or not,but I have sat in the jurors box many times and have been appaled at what goes on in the jury room.It is a given that the defendents attorney will try to pick older folks for the jury.It seems in their day,this was not ever discussed or brought to light.For conviction you need a younger jury who deplore this kind of behavior and are not afraid to convict the perpertrator.
REGARDING:
“I would rather 100 guilty go free than 1 without guilt stand punished.”
The problem with that is that freeing one hundred murderers to avoiding convicting one innocent person means a hundred murderers will be free to murder again and again and again and again.
I don’t want the innocent punished but I don’t want to free the dangerous to prey on my children on an imaginary shadow of a doubt
David for perfect justice
Former EW Student , either way guilty or not guilty, the thought of 12 strangers setting in judgement scares the Pelosi out of me. Now days we have people that think it’s ok to molest a child, personally I think the firing squad should be brought back for anyone that they have proof molested a child. Then you have those who just can’t decide one way or the other, so they go along with who ever. Facts are it’s hard to get 12 or 6 people on a jury that think alike.
This is a perfect example of why pictures and identities should be confidential until a person’s guilt or innocence is determined.
This innocent man has been blasted publically on this forum for months now, and even after he is proven to be innocent in a court of law, by a jury of his peers, many of you still continue to act as though he is guilty.
He lost 9 months of his life because of unfounded allegations. Now he is a free man once again, let’s let him live his life freely as he deserves.
I’m not saying he’s guilty or not guilty, I won’t judge him. Now that I’ve said that let me say stories like this is one reason so many children, teenagers, etc. don’t come forward when something happens. There’s not always physical evidence, the only people who know the truth are the ones who were there and it’s sad to say the child isn’t usually believed. Years ago when this happened to me it just got all covered up because of being a family friend. I know what it’s like to live feeling like I (or victim) was wrong for speaking out. The evidence will show up in the victims life if professional help isn’t given. The only relief I have is he was caught eventually, but how many girls were affected before he was caught. This man will be watched because of what you say happened (good for you) and if he isn’t guilty as the court says then it won’t bother him to be watched, if it does then that will prove the courts were wrong.
OK close the courts and lets just hang em in the street. 50% are won…What about 12 people hearing all the story and making a judgement? If you do not want to be part of it leave it. I would rather 100 guilty go free than 1 without guilt stand punished. And if you were accused of a crime and found not guilty we should do what still call you guilty. Were you there did you see anything? If you did hey you let a guilty man go free. If not your just guessing and slinging your wants not hard truth. Sorry but ya know it is the truth it just is not what you wanted to hear right..
To victim: Al is right, PLEASE TALK ALL OF THIS OUT WITH A PROFESSIONAL COUNSELOR. Not just now but also in the days to come. Our thoughts are with you, try to stay strong.
Mom-if you know there is evidence that this man committed perjury I would encourage you to march right downtown and insist that Eddins prosecute him.
Victim and Mom – Please please please…. if you aren’t already seeking counseling, do so the minute a counselor opens this week. I completely understand why you didn’t tell – I didn’t either, even when it was happening as a pre-teen.
I did not, however, get counseling until much much later in life and there are so many regrets that stem from that decision.
J.V. MOM …..My prayers are with you and your family. I can only imagine how I would feel if this happened to my daughter. I am truely sorry that the court system failed you. But just know that God will not fail you. This man will spend eternal life in hell, be sure of that!
Jack, If you knew he was innocent and knew he had some many supporters. Why didn’t you all chip in and bail him out of jail??? It was not my family’s intent to come on here and arrange a public execution of Perry but instead let the truth be known and hopefully it not happen again! We DO NOT want to see another family and child go through the same pain that we had to endure and we want the community to be made aware of this and be cautious around Perry especially with children.
We know at the final judgment ALL THE TRUTH will be known and that is something that Perry, or any of us will not be able to escape from.
REGARDING:
“We ARE innocent until proven guilty in America. ”
Actually, we are legally innocent until a jury decides otherwise or we admit to our guilt in a court of law. We are factually innocent or guilty no matter what the jury decides. I am sure I am guilty of many things for which I have never been charged.
(think of every stop sign you ever met and consider whether or not you too may be guilty but not charged of a moving violation, think of every speed limit sign you have ever met and consider if maybe once you were guilty but not charged with a moving violation. These are generally minor violations but fair examples.)
I don’t know anything about this case and am not passing judgment. The prosecution had a chance to make their case and the jury rejected it.
Nonetheless, our mind goes back to OJ Simpson and his legal innocence and civil liability for making a mess out of two people. Even though he is legally innocent, would you want your daughter to be dating him?
David who liked all of OJ’s movies
Some of you would have been part of a lynch mob in days gone by. Others are more restrained, thankfully.
The story needs to be updated with arguments by the defense if they are available. We ARE innocent until proven guilty in America. The emotional reaction of the public to such accusations is a bomb that anyone with enough composure and malice can drop on a person they don’t like, if one person’s testimony against another is all the court has.
Maybe a lie-detector test could have been used with both parties in this…or maybe it was.
To: P.L. Gibbs———>I am happy for you…..never believed the allegations in the first place.You have plenty of friends who support you.
Disregard the lynch mob here at northescambia.com………..I understand the meaning of “NOT GUILTY” but most here do not.
jack
Dear victim, My prayers are with you at this sad time in your young life. God will take care of everything if you will just trust Him. Maybe your bravery will help some other young person in the same position. GOD BLESS YOU.
dear brave victim, i believe you..(youre going to be ok)
there is a special place in hell for molesters and for the people that lie..so i hope for all involved you find peace in GOD and ask for forgiveness and forgive. just dont forget. I was molested by my own father for years (from 9 to 16)told people no one listen so i gave up and moved out when i was 16. my advice dont trust anyone to watch your kids. if you have to leave your kids make sure they understand good touches and bad touches.. and trust your child make sure there is always good communication between you. I stayed home with my kids until they started school then i went to work..i took off when they were off and i protected them the best i could and i thank god everyday i did my job as a mother.
we all have relatives we don’t leave our children alone with, not being judgmental, just being cautious
To Angi,
The reason why I didn’t tell anyone about this until about a year ago was I didn’t know it was even illegal until i had started middle school. And the reason why I didn’t tell anyone then was because I didn’t want to take the risk of my family being ripped apart.
Yes, I am having difficulty trying to get over this, but all that I can do is pray and give all my worries to God.
Also, thanks to all of y’all who are praying for me, I truly appreciate it.
My thoughts and prayers are with this girl and her family, If this did happen; I absolutely think that you did the right thing by turning this man in, for doing such a horrible crime. I just wish there would have been more evidence to show for sure that he was guilty, so that he got what he deserved. The only question I ask is ” Why were so many years passed, before turning this man in?” If this horrible, horrifying stuff did happen to you, I wish you would’ve told your parents or someone that you feel that you could trust, always remember this… and this goes for everyone as well… “No matter how bad, embarrassing or whatever anything is; and no matter what you are told… You need to always tell someone right away, so that things can be done about it” especially because of evidence that fades away over time. I hope you never have to go through something else like this in your life. God be with you…
To Bratt man: If you are truly not guilty of this crime, then I say to you “Sorry you did time of a crime and being falsely accused”, but if you did do this crime; then you should be ashamed of yourself and even though the jury said that you were not guilty, you will have to face the biggest judge of all one day.
My heart goes out to the victim in this! May this person find peace soon.
In response to what evidence? You would not believe what wasn’t submitted in the trial. The jurors definitely did not get the whole story! It seamed that everything is considered circumstantial. Our child can be described by the public defender as a poor student, even though she makes good grades, active in sports and other activities, and the only trouble she has ever been in at school is a yellow light in Kindergarten! We could have easily had teachers as character witnesses, or showed report cards as evidence. A person can get on the witness stand and testify under oath that they only drink one beer occasionally, and the fact that public records show a history of DUI’s can not be can not be exposed! Only felonies can be exposed.
with so much going on nowadays we have to take comfort knowing that our father will be ALL of our judge in the end . All it takes is a little doubt and the jury cannot convict that is good for those who really are innocent but heart breaking for a victim that knows someone is guilty. my prayers are with the child regardless.
The fact that this man spent 9 months in jail with no one bailing him out says something!
“Mom” I am so sorry!! That is so heart breaking to watch your child suffer like that and not be able to do anything about it. My heart breaks into a million pieces when I hear stuff like this. Been there with a child,and can truely feel your pain!!! You WILL be in my prayers!!!
yep we remember OJ, we all pretty much know he did it, buy when you try to frame a guilty man, you have just blown your case.
But not all people charged with a crime are guilty. It would be a shame to send him to prison for something he didn’t do. If he did he will have to face the real judge some day.
What do you say to a child who was brave enough to get in front of strangers and tell about the worst thing that ever happened to her in her life, and then having to sit in the courtroom and hearing the verdict not guilty! We were told by the state attorney that only 50% of these cases are won (when there is no physical evidence and no eyewitnesses). The attorney told her that she did a wonderful job, and that the verdict did not mean that the jurors did not believe her. It is just hard for some people to say guilty with no doubt. Our family had nothing to gain in this. We experienced nothing but pain, stress, embarrassment, and time in this. But we still know we did the RIGHT thing. We didn’t want this to happen to anyone else! PLEASE pray for our family.
Not guilty; it makes me sick to my stomach. Let’s talk about creditability! Why weren’t character witnesses allowed to testify? Perry testified, under oath, that he doesn’t have a drinking problem and that he only drinks one beer at the time! None of his past record, which can be viewed by searching the county website, was even allowed to be heard because they were misdemeanors (it takes 3 or more DUIs before your charged with a felony). The family surely didn’t receive justice in Florida, but the bible tells us you will reap what you sow!
I wonder what the evidence held at the trial. Obviously by the not guilty verdict, it was not a very strong case. But just because he was found “not guilty” doesn’t necessarily mean that Gibbs didn’t do it. Remember O.J?