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Somerset DA Trial Update

The Commonwealth rested their case Tuesday in the Sexual Assault Trial of suspended Somerset County District Attorney Jeff Thomas, with the Defense starting to call their witnesses to the stand. The Court has heard from a total of 11 Witnesses so far in this trial, and on Tuesday they heard from Jeff Thomas’s wife. She described the events leading up to the arrest of her husband — who was accused of sexually assaulting a Windber woman in her home in September of 2021.

Thomas’s Wife talked a lot about their relationship struggles over the past couple of years, saying she ended up being “concerned something was going on” between her husband and the alleged victim. She says she found naked photos of the woman on Thomas’s phone, along with hundreds of Snapchat messages and texts between them. During cross examination, the Commonwealth argued that Thomas’s wife did not have any proof of these naked photos and they also showed a text message where Thomas asked the alleged victim for a “Dirty Pic,” to which she replied: “I’m not going to do that.”

A Forensic Detective who searched Thomas’s phone testified that his location showed he was at the woman’s home from 12:24 to 12:56 the night of the alleged attack, placing him at the scene. A Forensic Scientist told the Jury that DNA most likely to be from Thomas was found in the waistband of the shorts the woman was wearing the night of the alleged attack. On the other hand, the Defense argued to the fact that none of Thomas’s DNA was found in the private areas of the shorts, and that DNA can easily transmit for a variety of reasons.

The Lead Investigator in this case was called to the stand, presenting the Jury with 3 beer cans retrieved from the woman’s home in the days following the alleged sexual assault. Also on Tuesday, the Defense asked Judge Creany if some of Thomas’s charges could be dropped, but that motion was denied.

The Trial picks back up Wednesday morning to continue with the cross examination of Thomas’s wife before moving on to other defense witnesses.

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