NORTHAMPTON — In a peculiar move in court Tuesday, the attorney for a Florence man facing child rape allegations elected not to give an opening statement on the first official day of the trial.
Stanley Michalski, 31, has denied charges stemming from accusations he raped a school-aged girl and indecently assaulted her younger sister, while they lived in Michalski’s Florence home between Aug. 1, 2013, and Sept. 24, 2014.
“There’s strategy to everything we do as attorneys,” defense counsel David Mintz said after court of his decision to not deliver an opening statement. “There’s evidence that’s going to come together to form a very vigorous, aggressive and successful defense.”
His client has pleaded not guilty in Hampshire Superior Court to aggravated rape and abuse of a child, posing a child in a nude or lascivious state, possession of child pornography, indecent assault and battery on a child younger than 14, distributing obscene matter to a minor and witness intimidation. Michalski previously posted $10,000 bail and remains on house arrest.
During the prosecution’s opening statement, Assistant Northwestern District Attorney Linda Pisano told jurors that the girls, ages 9 and 6 when the alleged abuse began, moved from one temporary living arrangement to another with their mother. The Gazette generally does not identify alleged victims of sexual assault.
“The girls were essentially homeless,” Pisano said in court. “They really had no place to live.”
The prosecutor said that, while the girls’ mother was their guardian, she often left them to their own devices at Michalski’s home while she lived in a trailer behind the house, 9 Florence Road, with her boyfriend. Sometimes, she added, the mother would leave for extended periods of time.
“(Michalski) offered to have the two girls … stay in his bedroom,” Pisano told the jury. “Now, (the eldest girl) will tell you about what happened to her during that one-year time she was in this man’s home. She will tell you that she slept in the defendant’s bed each night and that, night after night … he sexually assaulted her. You’ll hear about various forms of rape … I’m sorry for this, but there’s no other way around it.”
Pisano proceeded to describe for jurors the various means by which Michalski allegedly sexually assaulted the two girls, adding that he, on multiple occasions, forced the 9-year-old to perform sexual acts over the course of a year and swore her to secrecy. The prosecutor also explained how Michalski allegedly indecently assaulted the 6-year-old, by touching his genitals and sticking his fingers in her mouth.
Michalski is also alleged to have photographed the 9-year-old naked and to have shown her pornography, Pisano said. The other girl told authorities Michalski would also throw coins and Jenga blocks at her own body and face.
“These rapes were allowed to happen because the defendant was fulfilling the victim’s need to be loved, I suggest, and fulfilling the victim’s need to be parented,” Pisano said, referring to the older girl. “These were all things that I would suggest her mom … wasn’t able to do on a consistent basis.”
Pisano also said Michalski showered the girls with attention, “like taking them for ice cream or taking them to the park, bringing them to play miniature golf, bringing them to the ocean, which they had never seen.”
In September 2015, even more allegations surfaced, resulting in Michalski being charged with forcible rape of a child, two counts of indecent assault and battery of a child under 14, open and gross lewdness, and intimidation of a witness. The new charges result from alleged assaults in Northampton between June 1, 2006 and Dec. 30, 2008, court records show.
The trial will continue Wednesday morning, when the prosecution is expected to call its first wave of witnesses.
Michael Majchrowicz can be reached at mmajchrowicz@gazettenet.com.