LIVINGSTON — A Livingston Parish jury on Tuesday acquitted a woman on simple rape and video voyeurism charges, finding that a recorded sexual encounter found during the yearslong investigation of a former sheriff’s deputy did not depict criminal activity.

Melanie Curtin had previously been convicted of first-degree rape and sentenced to life in prison. In her retrial, which opened last week, she faced up to 27 years in prison.

She had been accused of taking part in a 2014 assault at Perkins’ home. The woman who made the accusation testified she was so intoxicated she didn’t know what was going on, and state prosecutors say the woman was unable to give consent.

Simple rape carries a prison term of up to 25 years, while video voyeurism can be punished by up to 2 years behind bars.

Curtin was accused of assaulting the woman with Dennis Perkins, a former Livingston Parish deputy at the center of a juvenile sex-crimes investigation. Curtin was not accused of any offense involving children.

An appeals court had overturned Curtin’s initial sentence, saying the judge had allowed prejudicial material into the trial while also restricting Curtin’s defense. For the retrial, state prosecutors opted against a lesser charge than first-degree rape.

In testimony Tuesday, another woman said she had had a sexual relationship in 2015 with Perkins in which, about five or six times, he would ask her to take her prescribed sleep medication, cover her face with a pillow and that if she woke up during sex she was to role play as though she were asleep. The 2014 case is similar, but involved alcohol rather than medication.

After Perkins asked her to start taking inappropriate photos of other women, the woman said, she stopped seeing him. She also said she was not aware of Perkins taking photos of her. 

She said Curtin's defense team contacted her after criminal charges were filed but she said she didn't want to participate in the trial. She said she since changed her mind.

State prosecutors told jurors that, as they deliberate, to consider the woman from the 2014 encounter being seen motionless for nearly 10 minutes with her arm behind her back, and whether she was so intoxicated that she could not give consent.

Also, the state said, the woman in the video was traumatized by discovering that someone she considered a friend had performed sex acts on her while she was unaware. Perkins' role was important, yet Curtin played a part too, they said.

"Dennis Perkins may be one of the most depraved people in Louisiana, but none of that matters because Dennis Perkins is not on trial," the state said in its summary.

The defense told jurors that Curtin was being "railroaded" and state investigators opened their probe believing that a rape occurred rather than considering that the encounter may have been consensual.

Earlier Tuesday, a toxicologist whom state prosecutors fought to put on the stand described for jurors the different levels of alcohol intoxication but wasn't allowed to weigh in on whether a woman videotaped during a 2014 sexual encounter was aware of what was going on. 

The woman told jurors last week that she was too intoxicated to remember the incident, and the state wanted Dr. Patricia Williams to address the level of consciousness the woman may or may not have had. After the defense objected, the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals and the state Supreme Court said Williams could speak only generically about intoxication.

Williams had worked on a Max Gruver hazing case at LSU, in which the student died, and helped write a bill regarding drug and alcohol testing. She has taught toxicology and has served as an expert witness in previous trials.

Williams said people "have different levels of cognition as alcohol takes over" and that a person can be in an alcoholic stupor and maintain a residual awareness.

"You only have awareness of stimuli, but maybe cannot react," Williams said.

Williams said the difference between a stupor and a blackout is that a person who is blacked out may appear alert. A person in an alcoholic stupor is not.

Describing sex during a stupor, Williams said, “There’s a stimulus, that’s all you know.” She said such a person would be defenseless, though still able to move. 

The victim testified last week that she had so much to drink she wasn't aware of who initiated sexual activity among her, Curtin and Perkins, the former deputy at the center of a yearslong sex-crimes investigation.

According to the state, Curtin took part in a videotaped assault with Perkins, who is serving a 100-year prison term for sex crimes involving minors. The charges against Curtin have nothing to do with juveniles.

Perkins and his wife Cynthia were arrested in October 2019 and ultimately faced 150 counts alleging they raped two children and an adult, produced child pornography and served schoolchildren baked goods contaminated with a bodily fluid. Perkins is serving 100 years in prison after pleading guilty to a number of charges, and Cynthia Perkins was sentenced to 41 years.

Curtin was previously convicted and sentenced to life in prison, but the 1st Circuit said the trial judge erred when he admitted some evidence harmful to Curtin and rejected other items that could have benefited her case.

Following the decision, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said that "this is not the outcome we had hoped for—and our disappointment is a grave understatement," saying she was concerned about court rulings in this case "significantly weaken[ing] the protections of [Louisiana's] rape shield law, and [she] will continue fighting to address those failures and ensure fairness and accountability in our courts."

"However, Dennis Perkins, a sick, demented, disgusting, and evil person, will die in prison for his heinous crimes, and Cynthia Perkins will remain incarcerated for decades," Murrill said.