Brian Hamacher

Man Found Not Guilty in Alleged Attack on Fellow FIU Student

A man accused of attacking a fellow Florida International University student in her dorm room was found not guilty Wednesday.

Brandon Allen, 21, had been facing battery, false imprisonment and lewd and lascivious behavior charges in the April 2015 incident.

A jury returned the verdict after briefly deliberating Wednesday afternoon.

"I'm glad justice was served, that's all I gotta say," Allen said after the verdict was handed down. "They were false accusations and the jury found me not guilty. I knew all along that the people would find out the truth and that's all that mattered."

Prosecutors say Allen went to the victim's dorm room in the FIU campus and forced himself on the victim. She testified Tuesday that Allen held her down during the incident.

"And he was holding me down by my neck so I couldn't move," the alleged victim testified Tuesday. "[When I] asked him to stop or said anything he would cover my mouth."

But the defense claimed the victim allowed Allen into her room.

"She opens the door, she invites him in. Brandon goes directly to her room because he knows where it is, because he's been there before," defense attorney Jeremy Triana said.

Allen also took the stand Tuesday and testified that the victim did not tell him to stop. He had been facing a maximum of five years in state prison if convicted.

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