A Putnam County man convicted more than 20 years ago for the rape and murder of a 12-year-old girl was vindicated Monday when jurors acquitted him during his second trial tied to the grisly case.
Carmel man Andrew Krivak was found not guilty of the awful attack after spending more than two decades behind bars, and more than six years after his co-defendant and friend, Anthony DiPippo, was acquitted of the same crime.
Krivak and DiPippo were accused of raping and killing Carmel teen Josette Wright in the mid-1990s and both were originally found guilty in separate trials in 1997.
The young girl went missing in 1994 and was found dead 13 months later; DiPippo and Krivak were arrested in July 1996 for one of the most shocking crimes ever to take place in Putnam County.
Because jurors found him not guilty of first-degree rape, they were not required to vote on the murder charge, Krivak’s attorney Oscar Michelen told The Post Monday.
“He just started to cry,” Michelen said of his client’s reaction when the verdict was read. “Obviously he thanked us and he couldn’t believe it. I think his words were ‘it’s finally over’ and that’s it, it’s finally over. It’s over for him, it’s over for DiPippo and the community.”
Yet, they wanted to point the finger at a person forced to register who was allegedly doing dastardly deeds in the area at the same time even when the DA said there was no evidence he was. Why? Because it was convenient to find a potential scapegoat?
Nice this guy is free now. Maybe he will get the same cash settlement his friend did.