By MICHELE MORGAN BOLTON, Staff writer
Times Union
First published: Tuesday, February 24, 2004
Albany -- At sentencing, victim denounces plea bargain for former Assembly lawyer
PHOTO: Attorney E. Stewart Jones, left, defends the actions of Assistant District Attorney Peter Torncello as his client Michael Boxley listens during sentencing in front of Judge Thomas Keegan at the Albany County Courthouse in Albany on Monday, Feb. 23, 2004. (Skip Dickstein / Times Union)
Just before former Assembly
lawyer J. Michael Boxley was sentenced Monday to six years'
probation, the 23-year-old staffer who says he raped her called his
jail-free plea deal "an indictment of the criminal justice system."
In a stunning turnaround, the former assembly employee who months
ago said she approved of the agreement, claimed Albany County
prosecutor Peter Torncello gave up on her case when he told her
there was no chance of winning it.
"This
was a first-degree rape case ... not a misdemeanor," she insisted in
the proceeding before state Supreme Court Justice Thomas H. Keegan.
"I risked my home, my career and my privacy to spare the sisters,
mothers and daughters of this community a fate similar to mine. ...
I have already lost everything. Yet this admitted rapist will be
released ... and our streets will be just as dangerous as they were
on June 10."
Boxley, the 44-year-old top aide to Assembly Speaker Sheldon
Silver was indicted Aug. 1 on two first-degree and two third-degree
rape counts. He faced at least 25 years in prison if convicted.
Boxley later pleaded guilty to sexual misconduct, a misdemeanor.
It wasn't the first time a legislative employee had accused him of
inappropriate behavior.
In 2001, 24-year-old Elizabeth Crothers, then an aide to Dutchess
County Assemblyman Patrick Manning, alleged that Boxley forced her
to have sex at his apartment, also after a night of drinking. But an
internal Assembly investigation ended without sanctions.
In a Dec. 23 Times Union interview, the second woman said she had
no regrets about allowing Boxley to avoid jail time.
"I wanted this to be over to start 2004 fresh," she said,
explaining how she'd thought a friendship with the older man could
help her career, something she later said was naive.
On Monday, her sentiments came full circle as she sat in a
witness chair and nervously shuffled pages.
The College of Saint Rose master's degree candidate painted a
dark image of the edgy pairing that ended in criminal charges after
she drank with Boxley and friends in two city bars, and then ended
up allegedly drugged and naked in her Park Avenue apartment.
She was unconscious when the assault began, the woman said: "I
was raped in my bed, in my room. Being violated in my personal space
had a tremendous impact on me."
Trauma isn't eased with fresh linens, a different furniture
arrangement or, ultimately, a new apartment, she said. Having forced
sex while she was physically helpless follows her wherever she goes,
the woman said, including her dreams.
The victim denied rumors she had a romantic relationship with a
top city police official and said her goal is to see new laws making
it illegal to accept misdemeanor pleas in first-degree rape cases.
She criticized county prosecutors' treatment of sex-abuse victims by
adding: "It seems the district attorney had to jump through judicial
hoops to dismiss the charges with a slap on the wrist."
Keegan disagreed.
"I've been doing this for 32 years now ... and if I'm not
comfortable with something I don't do it," the judge said. "This
court has no intention of wavering from that plea bargain."
As if shocked, the woman who alternately laughed with friends,
sniffed into a tissue or stared angrily at Boxley then stood,
gathered her things and said, "I have to go home."
She and two others tossed copies of the statement, labeled
clearly with her name, onto a table before rushing from the
courtroom.
The Times Union does not normally identify victims of sex crimes.
"What caused her to suddenly accuse my office of not treating her
well isn't known," District Attorney Paul Clyne said. "From the
moment I personally spoke with her at the police station until the
day of sentencing, she was treated with sympathy, courtesy and
respect."
Defense lawyer E. Stewart Jones, speaking outside the courtroom,
characterized his client's accuser as "a hard-partying,
hard-drinking ... uninhibited poster girl for the wild side of
Albany night life."
His opponent is a good and aggressive prosecutor but he
"over-indicted" the case, the veteran lawyer claimed.
Torncello said a review of medical records, forensic evidence and
other proof following the grand jury proceeding showed it would be
tough to prove the top rape counts: "There's a very small technical
distinction between what causes physical helplessness and not
agreeing to sexual intercourse. One of the considerations that
couldn't be proven was that of no consent."
Many sex-abuse victims experience roller coaster emotions, he
said: "We've seen it before. At the time, she was 100 percent on
board. I'm sorry she's not that way today."
Boxley, who left his $130,395-a-year job in late June, was fined
$1,000 and required to sign the state's sex offender registry.
"I just want to get on with my life," he said to a crush of
reporters, but he wouldn't specify what comes next.
Although he had a bright career in the
Assembly, Boxley will be hard-pressed to find comparable work, said
Michael Paul, whose Manhattan public relations firm specializes, in
part, in crisis management.
"The only way he could get back into politics
would be to run himself, and he couldn't get the votes," said Paul,
a one-time aide to former U.S. Sen. Alphonse D'Amato and former New
York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
"We call them the walking dead in our
business," Paul said. "No one wants to hire them."
