Is George Bush taking care of business?
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When I was a little boy, my ma told me, "Buddy, now pay attention to what I'm tellin' you...figures lie and liars figure."
Five more jail guards ordered to stand trial
2 female inmates testify they traded sex for favors
Thursday, March 25, 2004
By Jeffrey Cohan, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
A Brookline district justice yesterday ordered five more Allegheny County Jail guards to stand trial on charges that they had sex with female inmates.
District Justice Charles McLaughlin issued the order after hearing three hours of X-rated testimony from women who described in detail their alleged sexual encounters with the male guards.
A total of 11 guards have been charged with institutional sexual assault in the ongoing investigation. Under state law, jail and prison guards can be sentenced to prison themselves for having sex with inmates, even if it's consensual.
Ordered yesterday to stand trial were Darren Hill, Charles Miller, Roy Baldinger, Donald Stupka and William Woznichak.
McLaughlin last month ordered another guard, LaShawn Walker, to face trial. Two others, John Pastor and George DiDomenicus, waived their right to a preliminary hearing, choosing to go straight to trial.
Three others are scheduled to appear before McLaughlin on April 1.
During yesterday's hearing, one of the guards' accusers told McLaughlin that she never told authorities about having sex in the jail until she heard that other women had spoken to district attorney's investigators.
"I didn't realize all these women were coming forward like this," she said. "I think it's a good thing."
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette does not identify accusers or victims in sex crimes.
Some of the defendants were fuming outside the courtroom yesterday that the evidence against them consists solely of the testimony of inmates.
"It's a witch hunt," said Hill, whose accuser alleged he touched intimate parts of her body when she was in jail in 1999.
His accuser testified that she consented to sexual encounters with Hill, Miller and Stupka in exchange for cigarettes.
Her testimony was the only evidence presented in the cases against those three guards.
The woman's criminal record includes a conviction for credit card fraud, a fact defense attorneys will use at trial to attack her credibility.
"She's a scam artist," Hill said.
In her testimony, she alleged having four or five brief sexual interactions with Hill five years ago.
"He was scared. I was scared," she said.
In Miller's case, the woman said, "We wanted to kiss each other. We became real comfortable with the kissing thing."
As for Stupka, she described a late night sexual episode in her jail cell in 1999.
"It just felt really weird," she said.
Stupka and Hill face misdemeanor charges, because institutional sexual assault didn't become a felony in Pennsylvania until 2000.
The other defendants at yesterday's hearing face third-degree felony charges.
While one woman testified against Hill, Miller and Stupka, another woman identified Woznichak and Baldinger as her sex partners.
Woznichak has stipulated to engaging in two sex acts with an inmate.
The three hours of sexually explicit testimony featured one lighter moment, when Stupka's accuser was asked if she had developed a crush on him.
"When you're in jail," she said, "anything looks good."
2 female inmates testify they traded sex for favors
Thursday, March 25, 2004
By Jeffrey Cohan, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
A Brookline district justice yesterday ordered five more Allegheny County Jail guards to stand trial on charges that they had sex with female inmates.
District Justice Charles McLaughlin issued the order after hearing three hours of X-rated testimony from women who described in detail their alleged sexual encounters with the male guards.
A total of 11 guards have been charged with institutional sexual assault in the ongoing investigation. Under state law, jail and prison guards can be sentenced to prison themselves for having sex with inmates, even if it's consensual.
Ordered yesterday to stand trial were Darren Hill, Charles Miller, Roy Baldinger, Donald Stupka and William Woznichak.
McLaughlin last month ordered another guard, LaShawn Walker, to face trial. Two others, John Pastor and George DiDomenicus, waived their right to a preliminary hearing, choosing to go straight to trial.
Three others are scheduled to appear before McLaughlin on April 1.
During yesterday's hearing, one of the guards' accusers told McLaughlin that she never told authorities about having sex in the jail until she heard that other women had spoken to district attorney's investigators.
"I didn't realize all these women were coming forward like this," she said. "I think it's a good thing."
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette does not identify accusers or victims in sex crimes.
Some of the defendants were fuming outside the courtroom yesterday that the evidence against them consists solely of the testimony of inmates.
"It's a witch hunt," said Hill, whose accuser alleged he touched intimate parts of her body when she was in jail in 1999.
His accuser testified that she consented to sexual encounters with Hill, Miller and Stupka in exchange for cigarettes.
Her testimony was the only evidence presented in the cases against those three guards.
The woman's criminal record includes a conviction for credit card fraud, a fact defense attorneys will use at trial to attack her credibility.
"She's a scam artist," Hill said.
In her testimony, she alleged having four or five brief sexual interactions with Hill five years ago.
"He was scared. I was scared," she said.
In Miller's case, the woman said, "We wanted to kiss each other. We became real comfortable with the kissing thing."
As for Stupka, she described a late night sexual episode in her jail cell in 1999.
"It just felt really weird," she said.
Stupka and Hill face misdemeanor charges, because institutional sexual assault didn't become a felony in Pennsylvania until 2000.
The other defendants at yesterday's hearing face third-degree felony charges.
While one woman testified against Hill, Miller and Stupka, another woman identified Woznichak and Baldinger as her sex partners.
Woznichak has stipulated to engaging in two sex acts with an inmate.
The three hours of sexually explicit testimony featured one lighter moment, when Stupka's accuser was asked if she had developed a crush on him.
"When you're in jail," she said, "anything looks good."
