BY LISA HICKLER
OGDEN, Utah - A two-day trial here ended September 13 when a 2nd District Court jury cleared Thabo Mzilikazi of a felony sex abuse charge, but convicted him of "gross lewdness," a misdemeanor. The jury of five women and three men deliberated five hours before returning a verdict. There were no Blacks on the jury. The sentencing hearing will be held in late October.
Mzilikazi, a 24-year-old Weber State University student, is a member of the African National Congress of South Africa. At the age of 13 he was imprisoned without trial for a year because of his participation in the struggle against the apartheid system. In 1993, just prior to the first democratic elections in South Africa, he was invited by dozens of universities and organizations to tour the United States as a representative of the African National Congress Youth League.
Mzilikazi later returned to the United States as a student at Weber State. He was employed as a counselor on campus at the Quest program which recruits and assists Black, Chicano, and Asian students in science programs at Weber State. Mzilikazi has also been well- known on campus as an artist whose work reflects the themes of the struggle in South Africa. He was chosen by Weber State to become an "artist in residence."
Case rested on word of accuser
Sexual abuse charges were filed against Mzilikazi
based on a report made to police by a New York state
university student. She visited Utah in June and stayed
with a friend in the same Weber State University
dormitory where Mzilikazi lived at the time. The
student accused Mzilikazi of pushing her onto a bed and
groping her body against her will during a visit by her
to his dorm room on the morning of June 13. Mzilikazi
testified that the woman briefly visited his room to
look at his art work and then left without incident.
The prosecution's case rested solely on the testimony of Mzilikazi's accuser, despite numerous inconsistencies in her story. Her testimony at the trial differed in a number of critical points from her testimony at the pre-trial hearing. No evidence was presented to back up her claim.
The defense challenged the scenario presented by the prosecution. For example, by the woman's account the events would have occurred over a span of about 50 minutes to an hour. Witnesses placed Mzilikazi at the dorm for no more than twenty minutes before he left for work. The cramped space in the dorm room and the unusual height of dormitory beds would make it a physical impossibility to push someone onto the bed as she testified.
During the trial it became clear that the police department never considered the possibility that Mzilikazi might be telling the truth in his account of the June 13 events. In the transcript of a police interrogation read to the jury, a cop tells Mzilikazi that the police already know what happened and he should stop lying. In an attempt to coerce a confession, police told Mzilikazi that the woman's clothes were at the crime lab and contained physical evidence which would tie him to the crime. In the trial, police officer Angie Okamoto admitted that the clothes did not have any evidentiary value for the prosecution. Okamoto also told the jury that the police never interviewed any witnesses who could have corroborated any aspect of Mzilikazi's version of the day's events but instead arrested him immediately after the interrogation.
Prosecutor Les Daroczi said in his closing argument that the key issue in the case was credibility. He called on the jury members to use their "gut instinct" to decide whether to believe the defendant's testimony or that of his accuser.
Defense Attorney Kent Winward argued that the prosecution had not proved its case against Mzilikazi. He pointed out that rape and attacks on women are horrible crimes. But justice is not served if innocent people can be convicted simply because someone points a finger. The law requires a jury to assume a defendant's innocence. Guilt must be established by the prosecution proving its case beyond a reasonable doubt.
A Thabo Mzilikazi Defense Committee was organized in the weeks leading up to the trial. It enlisted the support of fellow students, professors, and civil rights and community organizations.
About twenty supporters attended the trial. One person showed up at the trial after reading about it in the local paper. After listening to the trial for a while she handed a $100 contribution to a defense committee member.
Buddy Beck, a member of the defense committee, reacted to the verdict by saying, "What we had here was a partial victory. The prosecution was hell-bent on a felony conviction. One of the grossest injustices of the case is the way the cops weren't concerned in any way, shape, or form with granting the possibility of innocence. They didn't bother checking out his alibis. They had this guy, and they were going to convict him."
Beck pointed out that Mzilikazi was initially accused of the more serious charges of attempted rape, attempted kidnapping, and forced sexual assault. The charges were later reduced when supporters began organizing to defend Mzilikazi. His bail, which was initially set at $40,000, was finally reduced to $10,000. Mzilikazi spent 31 days in jail until supporters could raise the bail money.
Winward called on Mzilikazi's supporters to continue to rally behind him. "Otherwise," he said, "the whispering voice of one person will land us in jail and require us, not to defend, but to prove our innocence to a society that has lost sight of the precious presumption of innocence."
Lisa Hickler is a member of United Transportation Union Local 1366.