LIVINGSTON — A juror in the retrial of Melanie Curtin is speaking publicly for the first time, offering insight into how the jury reached its not guilty verdict in a case that centered on a video and questions of consent.
Ricky Short, Juror No. 4, said the panel ultimately concluded the state did not prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt. During the trial, jurors were under a gag order and prohibited from discussing the case publicly and consuming any news coverage. That order was lifted once the verdict was delivered.
“At the end of the day, we had so many questions left that you can’t say guilty,” Short said during an interview for UWK’s podcast Louisiana Unfiltered. “What kind of justice would that be? I couldn’t sleep at night if I knew that I put a lady in prison for 25 years to life that doesn’t deserve to be there.”
WATCH: Melanie Curtin speaks for the first time
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‘They built their case around the video’
Curtin was charged with simple rape and video voyeurism in connection with a 2014 incident involving former Livingston Parish deputy Dennis Perkins.
The case centered on an 18-minute video prosecutors said showed a woman who was unconscious and unable to consent. Jurors viewed the video twice, once during the trial and before deliberations.
Prosecutors argued the video showed an assault and that Curtin knowingly participated. Defense attorneys argued the state failed to prove the woman was unconscious or that Curtin knew her condition.
“The (Attorney General’s) office, to me, built their case around the video,” Short said. “They were almost grooming the public to believe that this lady was some kind of psychopath, perverted, to the point where she’s just as bad as Dennis Perkins. And that’s the furthest thing from the truth.
“I’m not saying what was portrayed in this video was right, but you could tell it came from (Perkins) and his addiction and fetishes. It definitely left a mark on this lady’s life. She is absolutely, 100%, a victim in this case.”
MORE: Jury shown 18-minute video found on Dennis Perkins hard drive
Juror: Focus was on what led up to the video
Short said deliberations focused not only on the video itself, but also on the circumstances leading up to it.
“The things leading up to that video are what’s not been portrayed to the public,” Short said. “I think (Curtin) is actually just as much a victim as anybody else in Dennis Perkins’ life. You could tell that (Curtin) was manipulated from the very, very start of her relationship with Perkins.”
He said testimony about Curtin’s personal life, including her 2020 interview with investigators, influenced how jurors viewed her.
During that interview, Curtin described emotional struggles in her marriage, which Short said contributed to jurors seeing her as vulnerable.
“She stated that she had to pack up her kids and go stay with (Livingston Parish Sheriff Jason Ard),” Short said, recalling evidence presented at trial. Ard was a friend of Curtin and her then husband. “Anytime a woman feels the need to pack up her kids and leave her house, that’s domestic abuse. To me, something ain’t right in that situation.
“She (confided) in Dennis, and he portrayed himself as being a shoulder to lean on and someone who would listen. She confided in him, and that ultimately led to him grooming her. (Dennis) is a demon of a man. There’s no words for the type of person he is.”
MORE: Judge excludes toxicology testimony, jurors hear 2020 interview on Perkins relationship
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Key testimony raised questions for jurors
Jurors heard from the woman in the video, who testified she had no memory of the night and only learned what happened years later after investigators showed her the footage.
But Short said parts of that testimony raised questions during deliberations, particularly under cross-examination. He pointed to moments where the woman paused before answering or said she did not recall certain details.
“She was asked certain questions where she would just pause and not give an answer or say, ‘I don’t recall,'” Short said, adding that her relationship with Perkins should have provided jurors with more definitive answers.
“I took it as she knew, but she didn’t want to say,” he said.
Short said those moments contributed to what he described as reasonable doubt. Jurors also heard in Curtin’s recorded interview, where she described a pattern of instructions Perkins allegedly gave before sexual encounters.
Curtin described a pattern where she said Perkins would tell her where to go and what to do before sexual encounters. She said he would give her instructions before arriving. For example, during her realtor days, she was told to go inside some of the homes.
“I would be told to go unlock a door, lay in bed, cover my face, and he would come and have his way with me,” Curtin said in the interview played for jurors.
“That was the biggest waste of time during the trial”
The defense called just one witness and rested its case in about 13 minutes. Curtin did not testify.
That witness described a separate relationship with Perkins and testified he gave her similar instructions, including asking her to take sleep medication, lie down and pretend to be asleep during sexual encounters.
Short said that testimony stood out.
“That sealed it for me,” he said. “It sounds a lot like what we just watched in this video. And that sounds a lot like the questioning that the victim said she didn’t recall.”
Jurors also heard from a toxicology expert after a legal battle that reached the Louisiana Supreme Court.
The expert was only allowed to testify in general terms about intoxication and could not apply those opinions to the video.
Short said he did not find that testimony helpful.
“I think that was probably the biggest waste of time during the trial,” Short said. “She testified that during a drunken stupor, your body will lie lifeless — like you’re next to death, almost in a coma — and you have no control over your hand movement.
“Well, toward the end of that video it looks like she had firm control of what her hands were doing and what they weren’t doing. So if she was in a drunken stupor, according to their expert, then her hands aren’t doing what they’re supposed to be doing.
“For me personally, that helped the defense more than it helped the prosecution.”
“Guilt has to be proven”
Once jurors received the case and began deliberating, they asked to review additional evidence and what would happen if they could not reach a unanimous verdict.
Short said some jurors initially focused heavily on the video, while others looked more broadly at the surrounding evidence.
Ultimately, he said the jury agreed the state did not meet its burden.
“Guilt has to be proven. Innocence doesn’t,” he said. “This whole trial, the prosecution was steady — object, object, object, object. And I started getting aggravated, like, this is stuff we need to know.
“You know, answers were being asked that could have cleared everybody’s mind and conscience. The judge came and talked to us afterward, and he’s like, ‘What could I say?’ But objections are something that we should question.
“Why are you objecting to questions that we absolutely should have answers to? Why are you overruling this line of questioning? That’s something we should know, because I don’t see where she asked any questions that were out of line.”
AG’s office: “This case was tried in the media”
Following the verdict, the Louisiana Attorney General’s Office said it disagreed with the outcome.
“We believe this case was tried in the court of public opinion and the media before it got to court to handle this case and we believe there has been exposure on a level that prevented this trial from being fair and impartial and aware of only what is provided in court,” said Assistant Attorney General Erika Moore following the verdict.
Short pushed back on suggestions that outside factors influenced the decision. “The media had no influence on mine or anyone else’s decision,” he said.
UWK reached out to the Louisiana Attorney General’s Office for an interview on Louisiana Unfiltered following the verdict. They declined.
The office also expressed concerns about a Louisiana Unfiltered podcast episode released March 5 discussing the retrial.
“There have been podcasts, massive media exposure, the victim has been defamed, the victim has been embarrassed, she’s been demonized, we’ve been demonized, but we will continue to fight for victims of sexual assault in Louisiana, and we will continue to fight for those who have experienced traumatizing sexual horror,” Moore added.
UWK remains committed to covering all sides of the case with fairness, accuracy and transparency.
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