pCANTON — Opening statements in the rape and sex abuse trial of Mark A. Hartle began Monday morning in St. Lawrence County Court following the conclusion of jury selection./ppHartle, 49, of 48 Smith St., is charged with having sexual contact and sexual intercourse by forcible compulsion with a then-15-year-old girl during the summer of 2014 in the towns of Gouverneur and Rossie. /ppHe was indicted on five counts of first-degree criminal sexual act, five counts of third-degree criminal sexual act, four counts of first-degree rape, four counts of third-degree rape, and 10 counts of first-degree sexual abuse, all felonies. Hartle was also indicted on three counts of misdemeanor third-degree sexual abuse./ppDistrict Attorney Mary E. Rain told the jury of eight women and four men that Hartle began giving the alleged victim unwanted attention by telling her things like “she was beautiful, he wanted to touch her” and that he “wanted to go to bed with her.”/ppMs. Rain said the young girl was made uncomfortable by the advancements and, in an attempt to get her alone, Hartle offered to let her drive his truck, something that he said would be fun for her./ppThat was when the abuse began, Ms. Rain said. Hartle would touch the girl while she was driving the truck and did so three successive weekends in a row,./pp“Then it got more serious,” Ms. Rain told the jury./ppThe teen girl ended up spending the night at Hartle’s trailer with her brother one evening after her brother gave Hartle a ride home, Ms. Rain said./ppBut when the girl tried to go to sleep on the couch, Ms. Rain said Hartle physically forced her in to his bedroom where he raped her, while her brother was passed out, drunk, in another room./pp“She crumbled to the ground by the couch and became dead weight, saying, ‘I don’t want to do this,” Ms. Rain said./ppBut while Ms. Rain told the jury the girls was afraid and “powerless” while the incidents of forcible rape and abuse happened on multiple occasions, Hartle’s attorney, Emil M. Rossi, said there is both enough to prove reasonable doubt and wondered why there was no physical evidence./pp“We have already heard that prior to anything happening (the alleged victim) was uncomfortable with the attention she was getting,” Mr. Rossi said. “What does she do? She goes for a ride in his truck.”/ppMr. Rossi asked the jury to consider that following the first time Hartle allegedly touched the girl in his truck, she “went back for another driving lesson” the following two weeks where the “uninvited sexual contact in that truck”occurred./ppMr. Rossi asked the jury to consider why the alleged victim would continue to place herself in situations where she was alone with Hartle if the uninvited sexual contact and rape became a “serial incident.”/ppAnd while the family stood shoulder to shoulder with their daughter once she reported the allegations, Mr. Rossi wondered why there had been no physical evidence./pp“Were there any possibilities for testing? Clothing? Bedding in Mark’s place?” Mr. Rossi asked the jury. “Were items made available to investigators for testing?”/ppIf the jury pays attention to how the alleged victim testifies to the sequence of events as she says they happened, Mr. Rossi told them they will be left with a determination of reasonable doubt and unable to find Hartle guilty./ppThe alleged victim is expected to testify this afternoon. Testimony is scheduled to begin at 1:30 p.m. /p
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