Charges against Kettrell Berry dropped; sprinter’s ordeal over?
San Diego news media are reporting that charges have been dropped against Kettrell Berry, the long-sprint champion whose ordeal began two years ago when he was accused of molesting a teen girl at the school for troubled youths where he worked. “Deputy District Attorney Renee Palermo told Judge Joan Weber Monday that based on defense discovery, the prosecution had some DNA evidence tested and wanted to present the results — expected later this week — at Berry’s trial, but the judge ruled the evidence inadmissible. Since Berry insisted on going forward with trial immediately — which is his right — Palermo said she decided to dismiss the case and refile charges when the new DNA results are available,” one report said. Methinks we’ve seen the end of the case. Kettrell has been training and competing as an M50, but not at full speed. Hope this cloud being lifted means he’ll be able to focus more.
Kettrell was in top form at 2005 Hawaii masters nationals in the 200.
7 Responses
I hope this ordeal is over for Kettrell.
I hope that those who were so willing to throw Kettrell under the bus are now willing to lift the bus up off of him.
Glad to hear things are looking better for my friend.
I really don’t know anything about the case or the accused, but I do know about criminal trials. The DA had a choice to either go forward with the trial, without evidence that she felt she needed or she could dismiss the case, with the option to re-charge it when she had the evidence. The dismissal doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s the end of the case. If the evidence is favorable to the state, the DA would almost certainly re-file it and Mr. Berry would face the same charges.
The defense would hope that the evidence would be favorable to them and that the DA would then choose not to re-file the case, but I guess that remains to be seen.
Congratulations Kettrell on winning this battle and I hope the war will be over soon.
Charges were refiled.
From a news service:
A May 11, 2016, trial date has been set for Ketrell Berry, a former administrator at a school for troubled youth accused of carrying on a sexual relationship with a female teenage student. Dept. 57, San Diego County Courthouse, 220 W. Broadway.
I trained with him, and when I heard this story, it sounded very familiar. He truly is a predator, and its sad. This battle has only begun for him, now that he has to be faced with the reality of what he has done and the people that it has effected, I hope he learns from it.
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