Woman accuses Allegheny County judge of blaming victim for conviction in sexual assault case

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A woman who was sexually assaulted lashed out at the Allegheny County judge on Tuesday who presided over her attacker’s trial, saying her verdict and the language he used with her blamed the victim.

“I came to the trial hoping and hoping that justice will be done for being assaulted,” she said at the sentencing hearing on Tuesday. “Instead, I was insulted by the verdict which seemed to blame me, in the way it was presented, repeatedly accusing me of being ‘castigated’.”

Following a court trial in April before Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Anthony M. Mariani, Kelli Norman Rini Jr. was convicted of one count of indecent assault on a unconscious person. It is an offense.

Mariani at the time found Rini, an Uber driver, not guilty of the most serious charge, involuntary deviant intercourse of an unconscious person. This crime, which requires penetration, is a crime.

Upon conviction, Mariani ordered the accused to serve nine to 18 months in prison, followed by three years of probation. Additionally, Rini, 34, of McKees Rocks, must register as a sex offender.

In handing down the sentence, Mariani did not directly address the woman’s allegations in her victim impact statement, but said that “her level of intoxication damaged her credibility with the details of this event” and “diminished her ability to perceive things “.

But, he continued, he doesn’t believe she lied.

According to the criminal complaint, the woman told investigators she went out with a male friend on the night of February 8, 2020 and called an Uber home because she was drunk. The Tribune-Review does not name victims of sexual assault.

Rini was the driver who picked them up. But on the way home, police said, the woman started arguing with her friend and Rini kicked the man out of her car. Rini then drove the woman to her house in Robinson.

Once there, she realized she didn’t have her keys and Rini offered to take her back to her car so she could get them. They then returned to his residence at around 6:15 a.m. on February 9.

The woman told police she couldn’t remember exactly what happened, but passed out in bed. When she woke up, Rini was sexually assaulting her.

“(The woman) said it took him a few seconds to realize what was going on, then told Kelli to stop, which he did,” police wrote in the complaint.

Afterward, the woman said she was so scared that she curled up in a fetal position on her bed.

Later that day, she told police, she texted Rini.

In one, she wrote: “You really touched me while I was sleeping.”

Rini replied, “That’s right, I did and I was totally wrong for that, I’m sorry, but you’re a beautiful young lady, it was hard not to try. Please accept my apologies for that. . I totally understand if you don’t. I don’t want to talk to me anymore.… I am still extremely sorry.

After the day-long trial, Mariani delivered her verdict – repeatedly referring to the woman’s intoxication.

“She’s completely fucked up, drinking all night, street parties, completely fucked up,” Mariani said, according to the court transcript. “She drinks until they close the place and goes somewhere else for more drinks.”

“She doesn’t even know where she is. She doesn’t know Homewood’s Homestead.

Mariani said he found the woman’s testimony that she did not consent “so reliable and trustworthy that I find the accused guilty of count two beyond a reasonable doubt”.

But, when it comes to involuntary deviant sex, Mariani said, he didn’t think the prosecution was discharging its burden.

“The same problem she describes, her drunkenness to the point of falling asleep or falling asleep, of not being aware of what’s going on, also gives this court a pause as to the specific nature of this meeting, if there was indeed penetration, however slight, because of his lack of awareness of what was happening and his awareness only to know that something was happening in this part of his body ”, said the judge.

Although Mariani said there was no doubt that Rini sexually assaulted the woman, “(The) point is that the court is in doubt as to whether this victim can describe with that kind of precision exactly what happened.”

But in her victim impact statement, which she read on Tuesday, the woman wondered what more she would need for a guilty verdict on both counts.

“Having a text message from the man who assaulted me saying he touched me while I was asleep was not enough,” she wrote. “I am deeply concerned for all the victims who are afraid to be honest or who do not have the kind of proof I had.”

The woman told Mariani that she called an Uber for safe transportation and couldn’t resist, let alone consent.

“He did what he did to me when I was unconscious. How or why I got into this vulnerable state shouldn’t matter, ”she told Mariani.

She noted that the only evidence presented in court about her drinking that night was from her own testimony.

“So my testimony that I had consumed alcohol was credible, but not my testimony that this man penetrated me…” she said. “Being blasted shouldn’t be relevant, there is no amount of” blasted “that can possibly make assaulting someone less of a crime. To suggest it mockingly is to blame and impact the victim by adding to her trauma I was sexually assaulted while sleeping in what was supposed to be the safety of my own home.

The woman said that by defending herself, she hopes she can stop Rini from hurting someone else.

“This trial taught me how difficult the legal process is for victims of sexual assault, and it taught me how negligent companies like Uber are,” she said.

“Throughout this process, I have remained fairly calm. I did my best to make everyone feel comfortable with what happened to me. I think I first allowed myself to minimize the trauma of my assault and even thought it “could have been worse”. But after hearing the verdict read, the only thought or question in my mind was, “How much worse must it be for him to be convicted of what he actually did to me?” “

During the hearing, defense lawyer Elizabeth Laforgia told the court that this was not a “foreign danger” case, but that the victim had invited Rini to her home.

“It was a misunderstanding,” she said.

Rini, who spoke on her own behalf, told Mariani: “It was a stupid situation to accept her invitation to her home.

“I just want to apologize to this court and (the victim) for accepting their invitation,” Rini said. “I apologize for putting myself in and [the victim] in the situation, but what she said is not true.

Mariani said in condemning him above the range of standard advisory guidelines that Rini’s continued denial that there had been an assault made him a threat to the community.

“You were in a guard position. You were an Uber driver. People trust you, ”Mariani told Rini. “You took advantage of it. “

After the conviction, the woman said she was happy with Rini’s punishment and the way Mariani handled the sentencing hearing.

“I think he heard what I had to say in my statement and took it into consideration,” she said. “I feel like he didn’t take into account how his verbiage might impact and make me feel.

“I really think he listened to me. That’s all I wanted.

Paula Reed Ward is the editor of Tribune-Review. You can contact Paula by email at [email protected] or via Twitter.

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