Giorgi Shevardenidze’s “I am not guilty” tattoo is visible as he walks to his hearing in Brooklyn Supreme Court on sexual assault charges. Shevardenidze was found guilty.Photo: Riyad Hasan
This tattoo couldn’t be more wrong.
A Brooklyn man who was found guilty of sexual assault Wednesday got a tattoo before his trial that reads, “I am not guilty.”
Giorgi Shevardenidze, 27, faces 15 years behind bars for grabbing a 20-year-old woman around her neck and mouth from behind, cutting off her breath, and then grabbed her crotch in the Brighton Beach subway station on July 28, 2012.
Shevardenidze – who listens to the trial with the help of a Georgian translator – has the ironic tattoo on his right hand that reads, “I am not guilty” in capital letters under a large bell that reaches up under his shirt cuff.
Defense attorney Irwin Klein said Shevardenidze got the ink a few months ago.
But jurors who found Shevardenidze guilty said they didn’t factor the inky proclamation into their deliberations.
“I might have seen a mark on his right hand but I didn’t think it was a tattoo,” said a male juror.
“That’s really shocking [but] we didn’t notice it. I didn’t hear any juror mention it.”
The juror said they found the victim’s testimony more believable than Shevardenidze, who claimed he tripped and fell against the victim on the station steps.
“There was enormous sympathy for the victim,” the juror said.
Shevardenidze remained stone-faced and expressionless as the jury foreman read the verdict, but turned and looked at his wife in the gallery as he was led out in handcuffs.
Judge William Harrington remanded Shevardenidze until his August 12 sentencing.
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