The Miami-Dade State Attorney’s office dropped its case against real estate broker Ohad Fisherman, who was expected to stand trial this week on a sexual battery charge that also allegedly involved Oren and Alon Alexander.
Fisherman was accused of pinning a woman down on New Year’s Eve in 2016 as Oren and Alon allegedly took turns raping her at one of the brothers’ apartments in Miami Beach.
Fisherman provided an alibi that he was on a boat “somewhere along the Intracoastal Waterway” at the time of the alleged assault.
The dismissal of the charge applies only to Fisherman. The Alexander brothers, who are in federal custody along with their older brother Tal, are expected to be tried at a later date.
“We’re thrilled that Ohad Fisherman was exonerated and we’ll make a more formal statement tomorrow,” said Jeffrey Sloman, one of Fisherman’s attorneys.
Last week, Miami-Dade judge Lody Jean denied a motion to dismiss the case brought by defense attorneys for Fisherman and the brothers. The defense argued that the state acted in bad faith by failing to secure or try to preserve potential evidence of the crime, including a photo, a text and a potential drone video that would have helped establish the timeline that day.
Fisherman posted the drone video on Facebook, and metadata associated with the video confirms his alibi, according to a motion filed by his attorneys.
State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle acknowledged in a statement that the video was taken “very close in time to the sexual battery incident” and was posted on Facebook at 9 pm that evening.
“The defendant’s presence at the scene of the crime is an essential element of proof and this video evidence casts doubt on that proof,” Rundle’s office wrote in the statement. “Given the prosecution’s inability to conclusively disprove the alibi, we determined in good faith that we could not prove the case against Ohad Fisherman.”
Tal, Oren and Alon are also facing 10 federal charges, including multiple counts of sex trafficking. They were arrested in Miami on Dec. 11. At the time of the Alexanders’ arrest, Fisherman was on his honeymoon in Japan. He turned himself in to authorities on Dec. 18 after returning the night before.
The Miami-Dade State Attorney’s office also charged Oren with two other counts of sexual battery in connection with separate alleged attacks.
