Lynn man acquitted of child rape

LYNN – A Salem Superior Court jury acquitted a city man of a child rape charge almost exactly two years after the man was indicted by a grand jury.”The trial was full and complete and the defendant was found not guilty,” defense attorney Mark Schmidt said Monday.Rashaun Ramsay was indicted on April 30, 2012 on charges of aggravated rape of a child; rape of a child with force; and disseminating obscene material to a minor.He pleaded not guilty at his arraignment and was ordered held without bail, according to a previous Item report.Ramsay was charged with raping a child on different dates between January 2005 and February 2007 when the child was approximately 6 to 8 years old.The Commonwealth dropped the aggravated rape charge in March 2013 after Schmidt said he noted that the factor making the alleged incident qualify as an aggravated rape – a greater than 10-year age difference between defendant and alleged victim – was not a law at the time of the alleged offense.The trial began April 28 in Salem Superior Court.After the prosecution presented its case, Judge Howard Whitehead instructed the jury to find Ramsay not guilty of the charge of showing obscene material to a minor.The jury acquitted Ramsay of rape of a child with force on May 1, according to court records.