Man, 18, acquitted of rape charge

Chaz Carraway had denied assaulting former girlfriend

A Flathead County jury Wednesday afternoon found Chaz Carraway not guilty of raping a teenage girl.

Carraway, 18, was accused of having sex with the girl while she was intoxicated and sleeping or passed out in his bed after a party at his house in September.

The jury deliberated for only about two hours before reaching the verdict, which was met with cheers from some teenage spectators in the courtroom.

Carraway was represented by Whitefish attorney Jack Quatman.

"I believe in the jury system. I think they did what was right in this case," Quatman said.

"I don't think there there's any question in the jurors' minds that the victim was extremely intoxicated when the defendant engaged in sex with her," said prosecuting Deputy County Attorney Dan Guzynski.

"The difficulty for the jury in this case was that it was a very young man charged with a very serious crime."

Carraway, who had previously had a romantic relationship with his accuser for more than a year and half, adamantly denied raping her. He said they engaged in consensual sex.

Quatman argued that the girl leveled the charges against Carraway because she was remorseful about having sex with him because she had a new boyfriend.

In a taped interview, Carraway said that the girl was drunk at his party. He testified that she awoke when he went to check on her and that she willingly engaged in sex with him.

She said she woke up find Carraway on top of her.

If he had been convicted, Carraway would have faced as long as 100 years in prison.