NORTHAMPTON – The third trial of a former Easthampton man facing multiple child rape charges began Friday morning in Hampshire Superior Court.
Kevin DiRocco, 44, who now lives in Springfield, was charged in October 2015 with aggravated rape and abuse of a child, two counts of rape and abuse of a child, and seven counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14.
He is accused of sexually assaulting two girls he knew in Easthampton between 1998 and 2009. The assaults took place when the alleged victims were between 3 or 4 years old and ended when they were 13 or 14, according to court documents. The Gazette generally does not identify alleged victims of sexual assault.
DiRocco was found not guilty of an additional charge of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14 at his first trial in May 2017. A jury, which deliberated for 10 hours over two days, was unable to reach a unanimous verdict on the remaining charges and a mistrial was declared. During his first trial, DiRocco repeatedly denied the allegations.
A second trial on the charges in April 2018 ended in a mistrial shortly after it began following the dismissal of multiple jurors after opening statements.
The latest trial began Friday morning with opening statements from attorneys. Assistant Northwestern District Attorney Caleb Weiner described to the jury that evidence would show the alleged assaults began while both girls were very young and continued for nearly a decade.
“Almost as long as these girls can remember, he raped and abused these girls,” Weiner said. “This experience was hard to understand as anything but normal. They were conditioned to have that understanding, groomed to believe it was normal.”
Weiner said one of the girls tried to tell an adult when she was around 14 years old but was discouraged from doing so “by the only person she should be able to trust.”
Defense attorney Rachel Weber told the jury that the girls made up a lie to punish DiRocco and that he did not rape them or sexually assault them. “What you just heard from the commonwealth, the terrible allegations being leveled against this man, Kevin DiRocco, is not the whole story,” Weber said.
Weber instructed the jurors to pay attention to three things throughout the course of the trial. She urged them to listen to inconsistences in the two young women’s statements and how they may “strain common sense.” Weber also told the jurors to pay attention to evidence they would not hear, including hearing from any other witnesses about the alleged incidents.
The trial is scheduled to resume Monday.
Emily Cutts can be reached at ecutts@gazettenet.com.