NORTHAMPTON — A Florence man was convicted Wednesday of sexually assaulting two young girls, bringing his weeklong trial to a close.
A Hampshire Superior Court jury found Stanley Michalski guilty on four counts of aggravated rape of a child, one count each of indecent assault and battery of a child, indecent assault and battery on a child younger than 14 and disseminating matter harmful to minors.
Michalski wept as the first guilty finding, of seven total, was read in court. His father, Henry Michalski, sat quietly and expressionless in the back of the courtroom as he bowed his head.
“It’s wrong,” Stanley Michalski said as a court officer bound his wrists in handcuffs. “It’s wrong. I did not do this.”
Prosecutors said Michalski, 31, repeatedly raped a young girl and indecently assaulted another, both of whom temporarily lived in his Florence Road home from August 2013 to September 2014 and took at least one explicit photo of one of them.
It was also alleged he showed one of them pornography. The girls, now 12 and 10, testified for the prosecution, detailing the assaults, earlier in the trial. The Gazette generally does not identify victims of sexual assault.
The jury found Michalski not guilty on one count of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, one count of posing or exhibiting a nude child, one count of possession of child pornography and one of two counts of disseminating matter harmful to minors.
“I’m so proud of the girls in this case, the victims, and I am just grateful to the jury for their hard work and diligence,” Assistant Northwestern District Attorney Linda Pisano said outside the courtroom.
“When these victims have the courage to come forward and tell their story and then go into an open court and tell someone the most incredibly difficult details, you just hope that they’re heard and believed, and that certainly happened in this case.”
Defense counsel David Mintz declined comment following Wednesday’s proceedings.
On Tuesday, Michalski testified he did not regularly sleep in the same room as the girls he is accused of assaulting, contrary to what Pisano argued earlier in the trial. Michalski’s testimony was supported by other members of his family during the trial. He also testified that one of the girls touched him inappropriately while he was using the bathroom.
An emotional Michalski continued his testimony Wednesday prior to closing arguments.
“Did you sexually assault that girl?” Mintz asked his client.
Michalski paused and bowed his head. He began to sob as the court awaited his reply.
“I would never hurt a child like that,” he said. “I would never dream of hurting a child like that … that is disgusting to even think about doing something like that … the only thing I ever did was care for those two little girls.”
During closing arguments, Mintz told jurors that if they concluded there was a “strong probability” that Michalski had committed these crimes, “that’s not enough.” For a conviction, the attorney said, jurors would need to be certain beyond all reasonable doubt.
“What I do know,” he added, “is that Mr. Michalski has no burden … Mr. Michalski doesn’t have to prove anything. The burden is on the government.”
During the prosecution’s closing, Pisano told jurors their decision would boil down to whether they believed the testimony of the girls, who detailed the alleged abuses.
“I suggest to you this is not a complicated, circumstantial whodunnit case … It was done by this man right here,” Pisano said, pointing to Michalski.
Pisano recounted the girls’ testimony, reminding jurors that the younger girl told the court she believed the relationship between the older girl and Michalski was a “love relationship.” The older girl testified that, while Michalski was assaulting her, she didn’t know it was wrong.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” Pisano said. “Pictures are worth 1,000 words.”
Right then, Pisano displayed several photos found in the defendant’s home, including ones that showed Michalski nuzzling the girl’s neck, the girl in her underwear and, finally, a photo of the girl apparently unclothed under a bedsheet.
While Wednesday saw the conclusion of this trial, Michalski stands accused of further child sexual assault charges from accusations that were made against him in September 2015.
Michalski has pleaded not guilty to forcible rape of a child, two counts of indecent assault and battery, one count of battery of a child younger than 14, open and gross lewdness, and intimidation of a witness. These charges are the result of alleged assaults that took place in Northampton between June 2006 and December 2008, court records show. No trial date has been set.
He is due back in court Dec. 19 for sentencing.
Michael Majchrowicz can be reached at mmajchrowicz@gazettenet.com.