SUFFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — A Suffolk man convicted of rape is hoping to have that conviction thrown out, but will have to wait longer.
After two days of testimony the judge won’t make a decision until October.
Martrell Beamon was 17-years-old when he was arrested and charged with rape.
He now waits for sentencing, but his attorney Steven Washington believes he has new evidence that could prove he is innocent.
Thursday in Suffolk Circuit Court, Washington made his case to the judge in a motion to set aside the conviction.
Washington called the victim in the case to the stand. He asked her why, since Beamon’s conviction, has she gone to see him in jail, offered to give him money, talked to him on the phone and called him her “baby.”
“If anyone was sexually assaulted in that manner, their conduct suggests that they wouldn’t want phone calls with the mom and go see him in jail,” Washington said. “She went to see him multiple times in jail. That is completely inconsistent with someone who was brutally raped.”
Washington also brought a signed confession on a yellow piece of legal paper. It was written by the victim, who said the rape never happened.
The victim told the judge that she was scared and being harassed by Beamon’s family and that’s why she did all those things since his conviction.
“He’s 19-years-old,” Beamon’s mother Latoya Beamon added. “They picked him up when he was 17, so just imagine as a mother what you son is going through in jail.”
Prosecutors say Beamon raped and pistol whipped the victim in Sept. 2016 on East Washington Street. During his trial, prosecutors had DNA evidence that connected him to the crime.
The hearing was only expected to last two hours, but ended up going two days.
If Beamon loses this motion a sentencing date will be set. He faces 50 years in prison.
The judge did say if he sides with Beamon, he would only throw out the conviction, but keep all the charges. That means the case would then go back to trial.
