Assistant State’s Attorney Kelley Galvin, said she believed the chance to face the girls on the stand was one reason he wanted to represent himself in the trial.
He was convicted in May of 25 counts, including second-degree rape, child sexual abuse and various sexual offenses after a trial in which he served as his own attorney.
Between Bruneau’s 2001 arrest and his sentencing, he mounted a successful challenge of a plea bargain his attorney had made with prosecutors and spent several years as a fugitive in Indiana before being extradited back to Maryland to face trial.
Bruneau had agreed in 2005 to plead guilty to two counts each of child abuse and second-degree sex offense, but was granted a new trial after he claimed his public defender didn’t provide an adequate defense and manipulated him into accepting the deal.
The May trial featured dramatic testimony from the two victims, both now teenagers, who faced cross-examination from Bruneau.
Both girls testified that Bruneau touched them inappropriately over more than three years while they were in elementary and middle school. Bruneau challenged their memories of events and raised doubts about contradictions between their testimony and what they told investigators after his arrest.
Both girls appeared uncomfortable on the witness stand and sometimes had trouble recalling when incidents happened or details of a specific incident.
After the verdict, Assistant State’s Attorney Kelley Galvin, who tried the case, said she believed the chance to face the girls on the stand was one reason he wanted to represent himself in the trial.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment