TRUMBULL COUNTY Warren man freed after rape retrial

A defense attorney said he and his client are pleased that the 'system worked.'
WARREN -- William Sweitzer is a free man.
After deliberating more than three hours Thursday, a jury acquitted Sweitzer, 42, of Warren, of four counts of rape.
The jury began hearing the case Tuesday in the courtroom of Judge Andrew Logan of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.
Attys. Jeff Goodman and Terry Swauger, who represented Sweitzer, said their client's freedom comes after "three long years."
"We are all pleased that this is over with and that he is walking out of jail," Goodman said. "We are happy that the system worked."
Sweitzer was arrested in 1998 on the rape charges. A jury convicted him in 1999 on all four counts, and he was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
The 11th District Court of Appeals granted him a new trial last year. The appellate court stated that Judge Logan erred when he did not conduct a hearing into allegations of juror misconduct -- a friend of Sweitzer's family told defense attorneys she overheard a juror say Sweitzer "looked guilty" during a lunch break -- and when he denied Sweitzer's motion to hire a medical expert.
Sweitzer, who has been in prison since his 1999 conviction, was accused of raping a 16-year-old girl he knew four times in 1997.
Thomas Wrenn, an assistant county prosecutor, who handled the case, could not be reached to comment.