Berosik found guilty

Darwin Berosik convicted Thursday of two felony sex crimes

By NANCY KIMBALL

The Daily Inter Lake

Darwin Berosik was convicted on two counts of felony sex crimes Thursday night.

The jury of seven women and five men began deliberating at about 5 p.m., trying to decide whether he is guilty of crimes involving two teenage girls. The group returned with guilty verdicts a few hours later.

Berosik was on trial this week in Flathead County District Judge Stewart Stadler's courtroom.

The Kalispell man forced two girls to perform sex acts in February and March 2005. This was his second trial.

His first trial in June ended with jurors unable to reach agreement on three felony sex counts. They split 7 to 5 on a not-guilty verdict involving one girl; 10 to 2 on a guilty verdict involving another; and 10 to 2 on a not-guilty verdict involving a third girl.

Only two of those counts were tried this week. The third was severed from these two, and will be heard in the jury term starting in June.

In three days of testimony, prosecutors Lori Adams and Tammi Fisher called several witnesses in addition to the victims. Defense attorneys Lane Bennett and Vicki Frazier called just two witnesses, but did not put Berosik on the stand.

Sentencing for Berosik is scheduled for May 31.