Hung jury forces third mistrial in child sexual assault case involving former church leader

Editor's note: This story includes references to allegations of sexual assault of children. Sexual assault resources for victims and their loved ones are available at the bottom of this story.

The third trial of a former church youth leader in rural Pueblo County ended in a hung jury late Tuesday afternoon.

After more than two days of deliberation, a Pueblo jury consisting of eight women and four men was unable to reach a verdict in the case of Gabriel Geringer, forcing the mistrial.

Geringer, 45, was charged with committing a pattern of sexual assaults on a 14-year-old girl between January 2010 and March 2011, before she turned 15, in the small farming community of Fowler.

"I'm pretty numb right now," the named victim in the case said Tuesday after the mistrial was declared. "I'm a little in shock, I'm pretty angry. We were so close," she said, noting that 10 jurors believed Geringer to be guilty but two were not convinced.

Geringer's first trial in September 2021 also ended in a hung jury when jurors could not reach a verdict after more than 10 hours of deliberation. His second trial in July 2022 ended in a mistrial after a witness testified that Geringer had sexually assaulted them.

Geringer testified Friday that in the period alleged, he was constantly busy with farming 800 acres of land, three-quarters of which were not around the property where the girl lived, he said.

Both Geringer and the named victim testified that he was asked by her mother and grandmother to be a paternal figure for her because she had no other paternal figure remaining.

Geringer stated in court that with the “long days of constant work” surrounding farm life, it would have been very difficult to maintain such a pattern of abuse, especially with the constant risk of being caught in such a small town.

While the named victim testified that most of the sexual encounters between her and Geringer took place in a tractor or a truck, Geringer stated that the tractor was constantly moving, making that difficult or even impossible, and that neighbors would notice if the tractor stopped for long periods of time, especially after a prior tragic farming accident in the community.

He claimed he could generally tell who was in a tractor, even from across the approximately 200-acre property, and could distinguish whether that person was wearing a hat, had a beard, or had other distinguishing features.

In closing statements, Deputy District Attorney David Dingess showed a photo to the jury of just over 1 acre of open land, where little detail could be made out in the background.

“Can you make out much detail in the background of this picture?” he asked the jury. “Do you think you could make out detail across 200 (acres)? 100? 50?”

Dingess also referenced testimony by a neighbor of the named victim, who stated that at one point during the period in question, she had grown concerned about the relationship between Geringer and the girl after noticing her general demeanor had changed. The neighbor said she observed a high volume and frequency of texts between the two and expressed her concerns to the teen's mother.

That meeting allegedly sparked another meeting between the teen's mother and Geringer’s wife, who previously testified that she began checking Geringer’s phone for texts from the named victim, according to Dingess.

In his testimony, Geringer stated there was no meeting he could recall between the girl's mother and his wife, and that he and his wife checked each other’s phones frequently.

Dingess also directed the jury to statements made by the named victim's cousin, who stated she saw her cousin and Geringer kissing in summer 2010.

Michael Becker, an attorney representing Geringer, pointed out in his closing statement that the cousin never reported the kiss to anyone at the time and came forward with it only after the named victim had already reported the abuse to law enforcement in 2018, years after it allegedly happened.

Becker also emphasized a lack of evidence he believed would be required to prove the allegations beyond all reasonable doubt — the burden carried by the state to convict Geringer.

One such piece of evidence, he said, would have been a pretext call — a law enforcement technique commonly employed in sexual assault investigations in which a victim calls their alleged abuser, preferably before the abuser is aware that law enforcement has become involved, with the hope of eliciting a telling reaction, or even a confession.

Becker also pointed to testimony from neighbors of the named victim and relatives of Geringer's who stated they never saw any abusive behavior from Geringer toward the girl.

Dingess countered by saying that while he believes no one witnessed the abuse, “sexual assault rarely occurs in public.” He said neighbors and community members likely didn’t want to believe that such a horrible act was occurring.

Tenth Judicial District Attorney Jeff Chostner declined to comment on the matter Tuesday but said the DA's office "will be reviewing with the intent to try the case again."

According to RAINN, the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, a person is sexually assaulted in the United States once every 68 seconds; once every nine minutes, that victim is a child.

To contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline, operated by RAINN, call 800-656-HOPE (4673.)

For more resources for sexual assault survivors and their loved ones, visit rainn.org/national-resources-sexual-assault-survivors-and-their-loved-ones.

All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in court. Arrests and charges are merely accusations by law enforcement until, and unless, a suspect is convicted of a crime.

Questions, comments, or story tips? Contact Justin at jreutterma@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @jayreutter1.

This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Mistrial ruled after Pueblo jury can't reach verdict on sex assault case