An Ohio man charged with raping three women, two of whom are transgender, was found not guilty Wednesday in one of the alleged attacks.
Adonas Hicks of Green Township, in suburban Cincinnati, was charged earlier this year with six counts of rape, one count of aggravated robbery, one count of felonious assault, and one count of kidnapping.
According to Hamilton County Prosecutor Joseph Deters, the 31-year-old suspect attacked the victims on three separate occasions from September to November 2020.
The first victim was attacked on Sept. 7 as she walked home, prosecutors said. Hicks approached her and took her to an isolated area and then raped her at gunpoint.
The other two women “were transgender individuals who Hicks may have hoped would not report these crimes to the police.” They were attacked on Nov. 8 and 13, according to Deters. “Each time, these victims were raped at gunpoint while in a vulnerable situation,” he said.
On Wednesday, Hamilton County Common Pleas Court Judge Jennifer Branch found Hicks not guilty of all four charges he faced in the case involving a trans woman who was allegedly attacked at her Westwood nome on Nov. 13.
The Cincinnati Enquirer reported that Hicks’ attorney Clyde Bennett II said that the alleged victim was “not credible” when she testified, and that the evidence didn’t substantiate her version of the facts.
“We are very pleased with the not guilty verdicts in this case,” Bennett said. “Particularly in light of the alleged victim’s sworn testimony that she was raped, robbed, and beaten by Mr. Hicks.”
A trial involving the other two alleged attacks is not expected to take place until next year.
