An Orleans Parish jury Thursday acquitted a New
Orleans veterinarian whose former employee accused him
of sexually assaulting her in his Uptown home.
After deliberating for about three hours Thursday, the
six-member jury found Dr. Vernon Pettigrew Jr.
innocent of the sexual battery charge. The 23-year-old
woman, a former employee and family friend, said
Pettigrew had fondled her in a bedroom in his home
while his wife was only a couple of rooms away.
In the two-day trial before Criminal District Judge
Terry Alarcon, Pettigrew's accuser said she awoke one
morning last September to find her boss caressing her
breasts and then her genitals. The woman said she had
sought refuge in Pettigrew's home during the area's
power blackouts during Hurricane Georges.
Pettigrew, 55, who faced up to 10 years in jail if
convicted, was relieved by the verdict, his attorney
said.
"He's very, very relieved, " attorney Jeffrey Smith
said. "This is a tremendous weight off his shoulders."
But his accuser, who said the incident traumatized her
because she had thought of Pettigrew as a mentor and
father figure, said Thursday she is still glad she
went through with the trial. The Times-Picayune does
not publish the names of accusers or victims in sexual
assault cases.
"I'm very disappointed with the verdict but it's
important that other survivors of sexual abuse
continue to fight back by going to trial, whatever the
verdict may be, " the woman said.
Pettigrew did not take the stand, but a queue of
family members and friends, including his wife,
daughter and son, testified to his character, saying
he has always protected any women who stayed in his
home.
"My father always went out of his way to protect the
rights of females staying in our home, " Pettigrew's
daughter, Elizabeth, testified.
Prosecutors Andre Jeanfreau and Jackie Maloney showed
that the woman had confided about the incident to her
mother and her fiance around the time she said it
occurred.
"(The
victim) had a tough job to do, " Jeanfreau said in
closing arguments. "This was someone she looked up to,
a guy she had sent a Father's Day card."
