Massachusetts Daily Collegian

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A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

Massachusetts Daily Collegian

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

Massachusetts Daily Collegian

Adam Liccardi found guilty in UMass rape trial

Hampshire County Courthouse (Collegian File Photo)
Hampshire County Courthouse
(Collegian File Photo)

NORTHAMPTON — A jury found Adam Liccardi guilty on three of four charges he faced in connection to the alleged 2012 rape of a University of Massachusetts student.

Liccardi, 21, was found guilty of two counts of aggravated rape and one count of rape, but was found not guilty of an additional count of aggravated rape. He is the third of four men to be convicted in connection with the alleged gang rape of an 18-year-old student in Pierpont Hall. Emmanuel Bile, 21, and Justin King, 21, are currently serving sentences in state prison, while the fourth, Caleb Womack, 20, awaits trial.

The jury’s verdict was read in Hampshire County Superior Court Wednesday after the jury deliberated for nearly 12 hours over the course of two days. Liccardi’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for Oct. 6, at 2 p.m.

Liccardi stood and held hands with his lawyer, Alfred Chamberland, as the jury foreman read the verdict. Chamberland later put his arm around Liccardi as the verdict was read, and Liccardi and his family both began to cry.

Liccardi was cuffed at the conclusion of the verdict reading and will be held without bail at Hampshire County Jail until his sentencing hearing.

“We’re extremely pleased that the jury, just like the last two, saw the truth in this case and came to the right and just conclusion,” First Assistant District Attorney Steven Gagne said following the verdict.

“It’s some small measure of justice in an otherwise horrendous case,” he later added.

The Northwestern District Attorney’s office charged Liccardi with three counts of aggravated rape for his part in the alleged gang rape, as well as with an additional count of rape after the woman said Liccardi raped her again after the three other men left.

The victim testified that all four men raped her simultaneously in her dorm room on Oct. 13, 2012. She said she was unable to move because she was so intoxicated following a night of drinking, and never consented to sex with the men. The woman said the men argued over who would go next and did not stop until she finally began to cry loud enough, at which point Bile, King and Womack left.

Liccardi stayed behind to comfort her, telling her she was beautiful and that she didn’t have to do anything she didn’t want to do, she testified. She said they both fell asleep together, yet she awoke later in the night to find him raping her again.

Liccardi testified that he engaged in consensual sexual activity with the woman, and that she engaged both King and himself in her room. He maintained that only Bile raped the woman, and said Bile “barged in” to the room, climbed on top of the woman and began having sex with her.

It was only after the three other men heard the woman crying that they said “Dude, E-man,” in an effort to get him to stop, Liccardi said.

Assistant Northwestern District Attorney Jennifer Suhl, who prosecuted the first three cases, said the victim will be present at Liccardi’s sentencing hearing.

Gagne said the District Attorney’s office also believes the victim, who has testified in the first three cases, is prepared to testify in Womack’s trial, which he said is scheduled for the end of September. Womack has denied ever having sex with the woman.

Mark Chiarelli can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @Mark_Chiarelli. 

 

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