Summary: A jury convicted lawyer Vincent A. Cirillo Jr. of raping his young client when she was unconscious.
On Wednesday, Pennsylvania attorney Vincent A. Cirillo Jr. was stoic when a jury announced that they had reached a guilty verdict. Cirillo, 57, had been charged with raping his unconscious 22-year-old client, and the jury had convicted him after six hours of deliberation.
While leaving the courtroom, The Inquirer Daily News asked Cirillo about his conviction, and he responded, “It’s unfortunate.”
Last year, Cirillo had pled guilty to a single charge of rape, which would have had a 10 to 20-year sentence, but he had withdrawn his plea shortly after. Cirillo now faces years in prison for rape and sexual assault, and Assistant District Attorney M. Stewart Ryan said he would ask for a lengthy sentence that would be more than what Cirillo would’ve been given if he had taken the plea.
During the trial, the jury of six men and six women were subjected to graphic testimony. This week, Cirillo spoke on the stand for several hours, describing his version of what had happened with the alleged victim. He also tried to fix differences in his statements, and he insisted that the sex he had with his client was consensual.
In 2015, the lawyer visited his 22-year-old client at her home to discuss their case, and prosecutors said that he raped her after she drunkenly fell asleep. After the incident, she reported the rape, and Cirillo was caught during a sting operation admitting to her that they had had sex.
Cirillo had also taken photographs of the woman when she was unconscious, and the jury saw these images. The jury also heard statements from the victim, her father and his girlfriend, and her boyfriend.
Judge Steven T. O’Neill will sentence Cirillo at a later date. Cirillo is also facing another case where he impersonated his victim’s lawyer in order to obtain confidential records about her.
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Source: The Inquirer Daily News
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