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BENNINGTON â A man asking the court to dismiss his 30-year-old child sexual assault case because of his physical incapacity to stand trial is now requesting a mental competency evaluation.
Attorneys for Leonard Forte, 79, asked the court last week to order the Vermont Department of Mental Health to evaluate his mental competency. This came while Forte was in the midst of a three-part evidentiary hearing, where he presented evidence that he supposedly is too sick to be prosecuted on charges of repeatedly sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl in Landgrove back in 1987.
Forte, a retired New York investigator during the alleged incident, was convicted at a Bennington County trial in 1988. But the presiding judge ordered a new trial, saying the female prosecutor had prejudiced the jury by being too emotional.
BENNINGTON Max Misch has denied allegations he violated a court order barring him from contacting his ex-wife, a witness in his unresolved firearms magazine case.
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BENNINGTON â A doctor told the court Wednesday that Leonard Forte is healthy enough to travel to Vermont and stand trial on child sexual assault charges, contradicting the opinion of two doctors who testified for the defense.
Forte, 79, has claimed for nearly three decades that he is too sick to be retried on allegations he sexually assaulted a 12-year-old girl at his Landgrove vacation home in 1987. A retired New York investigator, Forte was found guilty in 1988, but the presiding judge ordered a new trial, saying the female prosecutor had prejudiced jurors by being too emotional.
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BENNINGTON â Two doctors said Tuesday that retrying Leonard Forte would endanger his already poor health â statements that the case victim heard during her first time back in a Bennington courtroom since Forteâs original trial in 1988.
Dr. Robert Lobel, a cardiologist with the University of Vermont Medical Center, said itâs âan incredibly bad ideaâ to ask 79-year-old Forte to travel back here from Florida given his various heart ailments.
Forte is accused of sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl in Landgrove in 1987, after he retired as an investigator with New Yorkâs Suffolk County District Attorneyâs Office. He was convicted the following year on three counts of sexual assault, but the presiding judge ordered a new trial, saying the female prosecutor had prejudiced the jury by being too emotional.