Pat Grider, owner of famed Auburn bar Skybar Café, was deemed not guilty on sexual misconduct charges Thursday in court.
His trial lasted two days and the jury deliberated for almost three hours at the Lee County Justice Center in Opelika, Alabama.
Grider was accused of these charges in February 2022 by a female bartender.
Grider was tried in the Auburn municipal court and found guilty in May 2022. His attorney immediately entered an appeal, and that trial was heard over the past two days.
The alleged victim took the witness stand on Wednesday, giving a testimony about what Grider allegedly did to her on the night of the incident.
“It’s honestly really difficult to pick the right verbiage after being groped,” the alleged victim said.
After her testimony, there was a recess before her co-worker took the witness stand.
The defense requested that the witness not talk about Grider's character, and only address the facts of what happened the night of the incident. Judge Jeff Tickal allowed this.
The witness testified she saw the misconduct take place. Her name is not disclosed for the sake of the victim’s anonymity.
She also helped the jury examine the security video footage and pointed out body language and facial expressions made by the alleged victim in the video.
That concluded the first day of court.
On the second day, defense called Grider's brother Daniel Grider, a co-owner of SkyBar, to take the stand and testify.
His testimony explained the security system Skybar has in place and the subpoena they were served.
Daniel testified there are about 60 cameras in Skybar covering the inside and outside premises. Most of the cameras in the bar are new, but a few of the cameras are still from the old system that was being phased out.
The video shown in court was from an older camera system.
Daniel testified that due to the capacity of the cameras, they only hold footage up to 30 days after the recording is taken.
Daniel added to his testimony that his brother was arrested 30 days after the incident and was given a subpoena in the following days.
After being served the subpoena, Daniel said he and his brother spent about three days going over video footage from the bar trying to find the incident that he was being charged with. He claimed they saw nothing. It wasn’t until a worker notified the brothers that there was a camera on the old system that still had some footage from Jan. 19, 2022.
After the brother's testimony, closing arguments were given.
Prosecutor Justin Clark reminded the jury to take the video and the witness testimonies under consideration. In addition, he asked them to remember that girls' livelihoods were at stake.
On the other hand, in defense attorney Davis Whittelsey's closing arguments, he discredited the witness’ statement saying that there was too much uncertainty in her testimony. He also reminded the jury that in the video, you cannot specifically see what the victim claimed to have happened.
After a long deliberation, Tickal read the not guilty verdict to the court room, and Grider walked away a free man.
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Lily has been with The Plainsman for three years and started out as a Sports Writer before becoming the Operations Editor. She graduates in May of 2024 and is from Washington, D.C.
