Trial of youth center worker accused of holding down boy while he was raped turns acrimonious

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — The cross-examination of a man who says he was raped as a teenager by youth center workers in New Hampshire turned acrimonious Wednesday, with the accuser at one point calling an opposing lawyer a “sick man” following a heated exchange.

It was the second day in the trial of Bradley Asbury, who is accused of holding down 14-year-old Michael Gilpatrick on a staircase in 1997 with help from a colleague, while a third staffer raped the teen and a fourth forced him to perform a sex act.

It’s the second criminal trial to stem from a broad 2019 investigation into historic abuse at the Sununu Youth Services Center in Manchester. Asbury, now 70, is among 11 men who worked there or at an associated facility in Concord who were arrested.

Gilpatrick, now 41, took the stand for a second day and was questioned by defense lawyer David Rothstein, who pointed out inconsistencies in his recollection of the events leading up to the alleged attack, including how many times he’d been released home in the months beforehand, what time of day the incident occurred, and whether there were other children around.

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Gilpatrick said his recollection of details before and after the attack were hazy.

“What I won’t forget, do you want me to continue to tell you?” Gilpatrick said during one of several fiery exchanges with the lawyer. “That your client held me down while another man raped me.”

“Go ahead and say it again, in case they didn’t hear it,” the lawyer responded. “Say it again.”

“He held me down and raped me,” Gilpatrick said loudly, as he leaned into the microphone.

“Say it again,” the lawyer responded.

“You want me to keep saying it? You’re a sick man,” Gilpatrick said, before asking the judge for a break and storming off the stand.

Rothstein said the attack never happened and Gilpatrick is motivated by money. He pointed out Gilpatrick has received more than $146,000 against an anticipated payout from a related civil case.

“You’re trying to establish that this is about money, and it’s got nothing to do with money,” Gilpatrick testified.

Prosecutor Audriana Mekula said the rape occurred after Gilpatrick made a smart-aleck comment to Asbury and his colleagues and was then dropped onto the floor from behind, picked up by his arms and legs, and dragged onto a staircase at the juvenile lockup.

Asbury had been fired from the Concord facility three years before over allegations of physical and psychological abuse. But he was later rehired and transferred to Manchester, where he worked until 2001.

He is charged with two counts of being an accomplice to aggravated sexual assault. If found guilty, he faces a maximum prison term of 20 years on each count. The trial is expected to conclude either Thursday or Friday.

An earlier case against Victor Malavet ended in a mistrial in September after jurors deadlocked on whether he raped a girl at the Concord facility. A new trial in that case has yet to be scheduled.

The investigation has also led to extensive civil litigation. More than 1,100 former residents have filed lawsuits alleging physical, sexual or emotional abuse spanning six decades. In the only civil case to go to trial so far, a jury awarded David Meehan $38 million in May for abuse he says he suffered in the 1990s, though that verdict remains in dispute as the state seeks to reduce it to $475,000.

The Associated Press generally does not identify those who say they were victims of sexual assault unless they have come forward publicly, as Meehan and Gilpatrick have done.