Retrial date set for former Istanbul Sofra owner on burglary, sex charges
The former Regent Square restaurateur, whose trial two years ago ended in a partial acquittal on stalking and assault charges, will stand trial on the remaining counts against him in August.
Adnan Pehlivan, 49, the former owner of Istanbul Sofra, still faces counts of burglary, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and sexual assault, stemming from an incident on May 15, 2018.
He was tried initially in March 2019, but a jury acquitted him on some counts and was unable to reach a decision on others.
The case, originally assigned to Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey A. Manning, has been reassigned to Judge Anthony M. Mariani. He set Aug. 20 for trial.
Manning is on medical leave.
Pehlivan, who immigrated from Turkey, was accused of following the alleged victim home from Kopy’s Bar on the South Side, then breaking into her South Side Slopes home and assaulting her.
The prosecution told the jurors that Pehlivan met the woman at Kopy’s and spent more than an hour buying drinks for her and her friends. The juror was shown lengthy video surveillance from inside the bar showing their interactions.
Then, the prosecutor showed video taken from traffic cameras along Carson Street on the South Side. It showed the woman walking with her friends, with Pehlivan, in his BMW, driving slowly down the street behind them, and then pulling over just in front of them while they passed.
The alleged victim testified during the trial that, after she returned home and went to bed that night, she woke to find Pehlivan performing oral sex on her.
She said that she screamed, the two of them struggled, and ultimately Pehlivan fled. She and her roommates immediately called 911.
Investigators said they matched a piece of cloth from the T-shirt the alleged attacker wore that was found in the victim’s room with a shirt recovered from Pehlivan’s home.
Pehlivan testified that the encounter was consensual. He said the woman told him she thought he was cute and said he should follow her home.
Jurors in the first trial, which lasted five days, deliberated for more than nine hours, and were split 6-6 on the charges that remain.
Paula Reed Ward is a TribLive reporter covering federal and Allegheny County courts. She joined the Trib in 2020 after spending nearly 17 years at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, where she was part of a Pulitzer Prize-winning team. She is the author of "Death by Cyanide." She can be reached at pward@triblive.com.
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