Monongahela man headed toward second trial for kidnapping, rape
A pretrial conference in Washington County Court for a Monongahela man is scheduled for later this month now that a judge declined to dismiss charges of rape and kidnap that were filed in 2012.
John D. Yocolano II鈥檚 attorney, Noah Geary, claimed the conduct of the prosecution was so egregious that the case which resulted in a conviction in 2015 should not be retried.
The state Superior Court in August 2017 ordered a new trial for Yocolano, now 39, in connection with an episode involving his ex-girlfriend that occurred Dec. 6, 2012.
The appellate court vacated Yocolano鈥檚 18- to 36-year prison sentence, citing several errors by Judge John DiSalle and finding 鈥渢he prejudicial effect of these erroneous evidentiary rulings were significant and deprived (Yocolano) of a fair trial.鈥�
If the parties are unable to resolve the charges at the Feb. 25 conference, 鈥渢he court will set a date for jury selection for a March trial term,鈥� Judge Gary Gilman wrote.
The judge discounted Geary鈥檚 contention that the prosecution intentionally committed misconduct by withholding photographs of the victim鈥檚 bruises taken by police and prosecutors, who maintain they never photographed the victim.
Pictures of her injuries were, however, taken at Mon Valley Hospital.
Yocolano claims 鈥渢hat the hospital photos were not clear, but that clear photographs would provide exculpatory evidence. Specifically, (Yocolano) averred that cords used by the defendant to strangle or bind (the victim) would have left certain markings on her body, but the hospital pictures were not clear enough to note such impression,鈥� the judge wrote.
Attorney Neil J. Marcus, who represented Yocolano at the 2015 trial, intended to call Dr. Cyril Wecht as an expert witness to raise doubts about the ligature wounds, but Marcus said Wecht was unable to make a determination because photos were blurred.
At the request of District Attorney Gene Vittone last June, the state attorney general鈥檚 office has taken over the prosecution of Yocolano, a task to which Deputy District Attorney Evan Lowry has been assigned.
Geary also argued in December that too much time has elapsed between the Superior Court decision and a hearing in early December, so the charges against Yocolano should be thrown out because the prosecution failed to exercise due diligence in retrying the case.
Much of Gilman鈥檚 order dealt with calculating elapsed days and to whom the delays could be attributed, determining that only 300 days have passed since the Superior Court remanded the case.
Yocolano is free on $1 bond.