Man convicted of raping unconscious woman

A jury has convicted a man of raping an intoxicated, unconscious woman during a New Year’s Eve party.

NORRISTOWN » A jury deliberated about three hours before convicting a 25-year-old man of raping an intoxicated, unconscious woman during a gathering of young people at a New Year’s Eve party at a Norristown residence.

Taylor Alfred Rossi, of the 9700 block of Susan Road, Philadelphia, was convicted in Montgomery County Court of charges of rape of an unconscious person, indecent assault of an unconscious person and sexual assault in connection with the Jan. 1, 2017, incident at a home in the 600 block of Sandy Street in Norristown.

The jury of nine women and three men reached the verdict after hearing testimony at a three-day trial presided over by Judge Richard P. Haaz.

Haaz deferred sentencing Rossi so that court officials can complete a background investigation report that will include drug and alcohol evaluations.

At the request of Assistant District Attorney M. Stewart Ryan, the judge revoked Rossi’s bail and he was taken to the county jail where he will remain until his sentencing hearing.

“He now stands convicted so the circumstances have changed,” Ryan argued, adding state sentencing guidelines allow for state prison time against Rossi. “That creates a risk of flight.”

Ryan vowed to seek a state prison term against Rossi. Rossi faces a possible maximum sentence of 17½ to 35 years in prison on the charges, however, state sentencing guidelines could allow for a lesser sentence. Standard state sentencing guidelines recommend a minimum sentence of between four to 5½ years in prison.

“This case demonstrated a serious violation of a victim at a time when she should have been protected, when she was most vulnerable,” Ryan said.

During the trial, the victim and Rossi each testified for the jury.

The victim testified that after a night of drinking she awoke in a bedroom at the Norristown home to Rossi raping her. Rossi testified he had consensual intimate contact with the woman but he denied that intercourse occurred.

“The New Year holiday is often looked at as a hopeful one, fresh starts and new beginnings. For (the victim) every fresh start, every new beginning comes with a bad memory…her waking up to that man raping her after she had gone to bed,” Ryan argued to the jury during his opening statement while referring to Rossi.

But defense lawyer Louis R. Busico argued Rossi did not sexually assault the woman and suggested the contact was consensual.

“There was a ton of alcohol and people were drinking to the point they were blacking out. Whatever occurred in that bedroom…it was not a crime. It was consensual. It was all consensual,” Busico argued to the jury during his opening remarks.

The investigation began on Jan. 1 when the woman went to the Norristown Police Department to report she was raped in the early morning hours when she attended a New Year’s Eve party at her friend’s Sandy Street home.

“(The woman) said she had consumed alcohol and celebrated the evening. (The woman) said she eventually passed out in a bedroom after consuming too much,” former Norristown Detective Kathleen Kelly, now a county detective, alleged in a criminal complaint.

The woman told detectives she “never gave Rossi consent to have sex with her because she was unable to do so,” according to the criminal complaint.

Testimony revealed Rossi had attended the party with his girlfriend, who was in another area of the residence at the time of the assault.

One man, Nicholas Minor, 23, who witnessed the assault, testified he and several other friends had checked on the intoxicated woman’s condition several times during the evening after she passed out on the bed in an upstairs room. Minor testified that sometime after 1 a.m. he went upstairs to check on the woman again and observed Rossi, his pants down around his ankles, on top of the woman and sexually assaulting her.

Minor testified he heard the woman mumble, “Stop” and “No,” and then entered the bedroom and pulled Rossi off of the woman.

“She was very out of it, very disoriented,” Minor described the victim for the jury. “If someone is unconscious or asleep you don’t do that. It’s disrespectful.”

Testimony revealed that no one at the party called 911 or police immediately after the incident.