Ohio lawyer is sentenced to 13 years for sex crimes; jury 'got it wrong,' he says
An Ohio lawyer sentenced to 13 years in prison on Tuesday for sex crimes maintained his innocence in a nearly hour-long statement to the court.
Javier Armengau, who was suspended from practice after his conviction last month, dissected the evidence and claimed witnesses were coerced to lie, report the Columbus Dispatch and the Marion Star. “The jury lost its way,” Armengau said. “They got it wrong.”
Armengau’s fiancée, Nicole Sill, told the judge that the trial “has done nothing but strengthen my trust in this man and my belief in the fact that he has always told me the truth.” She added that Armengau’s “sole responsibility and sole purpose in life is to care for others, especially his family and his children.”
Jurors convicted 52-year-old Armengau of rape, kidnapping, public indecency, sexual battery and gross sexual imposition for conduct with a client and two other women with connections to his legal practice. He was acquitted on nine other counts involving alleged conduct with two other women, including a client’s mother who testified that Armengau tried to persuade her to perform oral sex on a judge in exchange for her son’s freedom.
Before sentencing Armengau, Judge David Fais said he saw two sides to the lawyer. “I wonder which Javier Armengau I’m looking at,” Fais said.
“What I mean by that is you have been an effective trial lawyer and I don’t doubt that you’ve been a loving son and a caring father.
“But there is a different Javier Armengau, too. I am convinced that the challenges that you have, the demons you may possess, your insatiable sexual appetite—those things have brought you to this courtroom.”
