The first of two trials began Monday for a convicted sex offender accused of molesting two girls in Nashua several years ago.
Mark Kerner, 48, of 273 Pleasant St., Brockton, Mass., faces five counts of aggravated felonious sexual assault, alleging that he assaulted the girl – now 22 years old – on various occasions between 1992 and 2000 at her home in Nashua. Each count is punishable by up to 10 to 20 years in prison.
In a separate case, Kerner is scheduled to stand trial Sept. 22 on four counts of aggravated felonious sexual assault, alleging that he repeatedly molested another girl, now 16, on various occasions from 1997 to 2000, when she was 5 to 8 years old.
Kerner was jailed for a time after his arrest last year on charges stemming from both cases and then released after his bail was reduced, court records show.
Kerner has been registered as a sex offender since 2002, after he completed a nine-month jail sentence for a 2001 misdemeanor sexual assault conviction in Nashua, police said at the time of his arrest last year.
Kerner was arrested in 2000 on accusations that he sexually assaulted a 13-year-old girl, court records showed. A felony sexual assault charge was later dropped, and Kerner pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor sex assault charge. He was sentenced to nine months in jail.
Police said Kerner was registered as a sex offender with police in both Massachusetts and New Hampshire, but his name does not appear on the publicly available lists in either state, according to the respective Web sites.
In the case being tried this week in Hillsborough County Superior Court, Assistant County Attorney Cassie Devine told jurors not to expect any forensic evidence reminiscent of the "CSI" television series.
"The crime of child sexual abuse is a crime of secrecy and a crime of opportunity. There is very rarely any physical evidence to present," she said.
GROOMING
Devine told jurors that Kerner was a neighbor of the girl's family at the time and befriended the girl while babysitting and occasionally living in the girl's home, during times of conflict with his own wife.
"He made her feel special, while the rest of her family treated her like a dog," Devine said.
Kerner's lawyer, public defender John Newman, told jurors that the girl showed no sign of being fearful or abused by him at the time and argued it made no sense that she wouldn't have reported the alleged abuse sooner.
"Mark Kerner is not guilty. He is being charged with crimes he did not commit," Newman said, adding later, "She never said anything about being abused because she wasn't . . . . It will make no sense that she was fine with Mark back then. It will make no sense that she didn't say anything for seven or more years."
Jurors began hearing testimony Monday afternoon and are expected to begin deliberations later this week.
In two of the alleged assaults, Devine said the girl felt someone touch her while she was sleeping but didn't wake up to the point where she could see who it was. Another time soon after, she saw Kerner scurry out of her bedroom when she rolled over in bed and he realized she was still awake, Devine said.
Judge Diane Nicolosi ruled that the young woman would be allowed to testify about what she felt, saw and heard, but she would not allowed to testify about her belief that it was Kerner who touched her those two prior times.
Kerner denied assaulting either girl when questioned by detectives after his arrest last year, police said.
"25% of all sex offenders re-offend within 15 years"
.........Sarah Tofte
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