Morgenstern trial nears end as state, defense rest cases

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Morgenstern trial nears end

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(ABC 6 News) – The trial against former Rochester police officer Timothy Morgenstern is nearing an end as both the prosecution and defense rested their primary cases Monday after over a week of testimony and evidence.

Morgenstern was first charged in 2023 with two counts of criminal sexual conduct involving a minor and one count of using a minor in pornographic material.

The charges stem from an alleged encounter the previous year between Morgenstern and a then 16-year-old John Marshall High School student.

At the time, Morgenstern worked as the school’s volunteer speech team coach, and the alleged victim was a team member.

The now 18-year-old claims she developed an intimate relationship with Morgenstern over Snapchat, where she claimed the two sent sexual pictures and videos to each other, eventually leading up to the two allegedly having sex in June of 2022.

Prosecutors have tried to prove this relationship existed, bringing in other students and the head speech coach from J-M that knew them both.

They’ve also focused heavily on law enforcement’s investigation and the consistent story the alleged victim has stated over the years.

One key piece of evidence, they claim, is the alleged victim’s knowledge of Morgenstern’s home; specifically, the layout of his rooms and furniture.

However, Morgenstern denies the whole thing.

His defense team has pointed out there’s no proof the conversations ever happened over Snapchat, as no images or videos were ever found on his phone.

During their presentation as well, the defense pointed to location data from Google Maps that appeared to show Morgenstern had never traveled to the alleged victim’s house the night she claimed they had sex.

That evidence, however, was not gathered during the official investigation, but rather by Morgenstern’s father looking into the defendant’s Google account himself, so how much the jury will weight that evidence remains to be seen.

With both cases rested, all that remains is closing arguments, before the verdict is in the hands of the jury.

The trial continues Tuesday morning.