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SALT LAKE CITY — An eight-person jury ruled on Monday that a Salt Lake pastor is not guilty of rape or forcible sodomy.
Isidor Pacomio Archibeque, 48, was charged with nine first-degree felonies — five counts of forcible sodomy and four counts of rape. He was found not guilty on each charge after a four-day trial and just under three hours of deliberating.
The charges said a girl in his congregation told police she was "systematically raped" by him for about three years beginning when she was 14. They also said he threatened to hurt the girl's family if she told anyone.
The offenses were alleged to have occurred in 2014, but charges against Archibeque were filed in March 2020.
Archibeque's attorneys, Cara Tangaro and Scott Williams, said in a statement that they believe the case should not have been filed.
"The detective in this case did not bother to do even the most basic of investigations. The government has great power in these cases and should only proceed consistent with their ethical duties, which is likelihood of success in trial," the statement said.
It said they provided "ample evidence" supporting that the person who made the allegations was not credible.
According to the attorneys' statement, a prosecutor asked for photos of Archibeque's body at the start of trial because the alleged victim had recently reported tattoos and whether they existed would reflect her credibility. Although there were no tattoos, the attorneys said the prosecutor moved forward with the trial.
The attorneys said the stories of innocent people charged based on false claims should be highlighted, along with stories of victims and survivors.
"This case has been pending since 2020, and the toll of these cases on an innocent man and his family cannot be overstated," she said.
Tangaro said they are happy that Archibeque can now move on with his life.
Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill said in a statement that although the jury did not come to the decision his office worked to prove, his office respects the verdict.
"We believe the victim in this case and supported her throughout the process," Gill said.
He said the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office only files charges when it believes they have a "reasonable likelihood of success" at a jury trial.
"We win more often than we lose, but one side must lose in an adversarial system like our criminal justice system," he said.
Archibeque's case took over four years to reach a trial partially because of a dispute over whether the victim should be required to testify at the preliminary hearing. The dispute led to an arrangement for the defense attorneys to have a private hearing with the judge, which was appealed to the Utah Supreme Court and then reversed.
"(Archibeque) is well within his rights to hold his cards until trial. What he cannot do is have his cake and eat it too," the opinion said, ruling that any argument about the victim testifying should be held with defense attorneys and prosecutors present.
