Jury deliberates in case of ex-karate instructor

The defense isn’t saying the boys are lying, the attorney said, but what if they got things confused?

“Did these things really happen? Or is it a situation where one friend said it did?” defense attorney Richard Narvin asked the jury. “The commonwealth has not produced sufficient evidence to find my client guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.”

That client, Michael Scherbanic, 30, of South Park Township, is charged with multiple counts each of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, indecent assault and related crimes for allegedly abusing eight boys between 2005 and 2016 at his Tang Soo Do Karate College in North Versailles.

During closing arguments Friday morning, before the jury began deliberating later in the day, Mr. Narvin repeatedly said he wasn’t accusing the boys of fabricating anything.

“Not that I’m saying these young men are lying to you or trying to get away with something,” he said. “I’m not suggesting they’re making it up and have any sort of revenge motive against Michael Scherbanic.”

But Assistant District Attorney Alison Bragle said that’s exactly what the defense was suggesting.

“The defendant wants you to think this is some grand exaggeration or story these boys concocted,” she said.

But if that were the case, Ms. Bragle continued, wouldn’t the testimony from each alleged victim have been the same?

“They weren’t all the same because it’s not a story,” she said. “They’re recalling the abuse they suffered.

“Everyone’s testimony was different because it was their own experience.”

The alleged victims testified this week that Mr. Scherbanic sexually abused them in the office of his karate school.

Sometimes, they said, other boys were present when it happened.

Ms. Bragle told the jurors that the young men who testified had nothing to gain by not telling the truth.

“Only one person had a motive to lie to you. Only one person had something to gain, and that was the defendant,” she said.

On Thursday, Mr. Scherbanic testified that he never sexually abused the boys who made allegations against him.

He also said he has a large scar after having a testicle removed in 2011 due to cancer.

None of the alleged victims mentioned any physical abnormalities on his client, Mr. Narvin reminded the jurors during his closing.

Ms. Bragle responded that there was no proof presented by the defense that the scar actually exists.

“I don’t know if he does. I don’t know if he doesn’t. But none of us asked the kids,” she said. “We weren’t really told where the scar was.”

She also countered Mr. Scherbanic’s testimony that he always had chaperones with him at the karate school or on outings with students by noting that none of those adults appeared at trial to testify.

Ms. Bragle spent part of her closing addressing the allegations against Mr. Scherbanic of witness intimidation and soliciting a cellmate at the jail to kill the alleged victims.

During the trial, a jailhouse witness testified that Mr. Scherbanic created a plan to discredit his accusers and even authorized killing them.

“He knew if these boys walked in here and testified,” Ms. Bragle said, “you would believe them, and he would be exposed for the predator he is.”

Mr. Scherbanic, during his testimony, denied wanting to kill the young men but admitted he drew maps and a timeline of how his cellmate could help him by going after them. Mr. Narvin acknowledged that to the jurors.

“He told you the truth about that, but he’s also told you he’s never had any sexual contact with these young men,” Mr. Narvin said. “Put yourself in his point of view. He has always denied any involvement in sexual abuse, and he finds himself in jail charged with that.”

Although, Mr. Narvin said, it would be easy to convict his client based on the nature of the charges, he told the jurors, “You said you would not do that. Only if the commonwealth proves each and every element of each and every charge can you get beyond a reasonable doubt.”

The jury will return Monday to continue deliberations.