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	Priest Found Not Guilty in Sexual Assault Case By Darren Hunt KVIA May 15, 2008 http://www.kvia.com/Global/story.asp?S=8331388&nav=AbC0 EL PASO, Texas - A visiting Catholic priest from Uganda has been found not guilty on all three counts of second degree sexual assault. His attorney said he doesn't think the case should have ever been brought to trial. Philip Taban, 40, was accused of raping an 18-year-old parishioner on church property while serving as a visiting priest at Mother Cabrini Catholic Church in East El Paso. Since he could not afford his bond, he spent more than eight months in jail awaiting his trial. Taban cried after the not guilty verdict was read Thursday in Judge Sam Medrano's 409th District Court. "It was quite a relief for him," Defense attorney Luis Aguilar said, "quite a relief." Taban had been in El Paso only a couple of months before his arrest in September of 2007. Three days after two sexual encounters with the woman, her parents called police and alleged their daughter was raped. He admitted to El Paso Police Department detectives he had sex with the young woman twice, but he said both times it was consensual. Aguilar said during Wednesday's closing arguments that Taban and the woman exchanged more than 70 phone calls and 20 text messages between the encounters and afterwards. Taban indicated in a statement that one of those text messages read, "I love you." "If a consenting woman, an adult, and a consenting male engage in sexual intercourse, that may breech every belief in the catholic church," Aguilar said, "but it doesn't violate the criminal codes of Texas." The assistant District Attorney who prosecuted the case was asked whether the case should have ever been heard. "The only thing I can say is the role our office plays," Assistant District Attorney Humberto Acosta said. "We bring the evidence to the community and we let the community decide. It's the best part of our system of justice and we respect the verdict." While in jail, Aguilar said Taban's visa expired. He is expected to be detained and deported back to Uganda within a couple of weeks. During the trial, a group of parishioners from Mother Cabrini Catholic Church showed their support for Taban. They too felt the matter should have been handled differently. "Justice was served," said Luis Gallegos, a Mother Cabrini parishioner. "I think this could have been avoided. He made a mistake. It shouldn't have got to this point. He is not guilty of a crime. He still has to make amends with God and the church. He's got to find that forgiveness in his soul. But obviously, he's guilty of no crime."
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