Lawyer accused of rape loses bid to suppress photo evidence
NORRISTOWN >> A jury can view cellphone photos that prosecutors contend link a Norristown lawyer to the alleged rape of a female client, according to a judge who ruled detectives legally seized the phone.
Montgomery County Judge Steven T. O’Neill on Wednesday denied lawyer and accused rapist Vincent A. Cirillo Jr.’s bid to keep the photos from being used as prosecutorial evidence when his trial begins next week. O’Neill determined “exigent circumstances” existed under which detectives had probable cause to believe that immediate action to seize the phone was necessary to preserve evidence.
“The incriminating nature of the cellphone was immediately apparent as law enforcement had just intercepted a conversation between the defendant and the victim wherein he described the photographic evidence on his phone and his intention to delete the evidence,” O’Neill wrote in a threepage order.
In arrest documents, detectives alleged Cirillo, 56, photographed the woman in her bed over a 25-minute period during and after the sexual assault. Investigators seized seven digital photos from Cirillo’s phone and alleged the underwear clad woman “appears to be completely unconscious,” court papers indicate.
During a pretrial hearing last week, defense lawyer Nino V. Tinari argued Cirillo’s cellphone was illegally seized without a warrant on Aug. 8, 2015.
But Assistant District Attorney M. Stewart Ryan argued detectives legally seized the cellphone from Cirillo after learning it contained incriminating photos and that Cirillo threatened to “erase” them. Ryan claimed circumstances demanded quick action by detectives and maintained detectives had a lawful right of access to the phone, to secure it pending a search warrant, when they could plainly see it, sticking out of Cirillo’s shirt pocket as he left the victim’s West Norriton residence on Aug. 8.
O’Neill agreed with prosecutors, concluding “the moveable and destructible nature” of Cirillo’s phone created an exigency that permitted its seizure “to prevent the defendant from both destroying the photographic evidence contained therein and from secreting or destroying the phone itself.”
West Norriton Township Detective Sgt. Michael McGettigan testified last week that authorities held the phone until they obtained a warrant to search its contents.
Prosecutors consider the photographs to be critical evidence and want jurors to see them.
Cirillo, who listed addresses in the 1100 block of Maplecrest Avenue, Lower Merion, and in the of the 200 block of Hampden Avenue, faces charges of rape of an unconscious victim, rape of an impaired person, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, sexual assault, indecent assault and making false statements to authorities in connection with allegations he sexually assaulted an impaired female client Aug. 3, 2015, at the woman’s West Norriton residence. Cirillo, who had a law office on East Penn Street in Norristown, remains in the county jail without bail while awaiting trial. Jury selection begins Oct. 4.
An investigation began Aug. 6 when a 22-year-old woman reported to West Norriton police that she was raped by Cirillo on Aug. 3 in her township residence where Cirillo met her for legal consultation and after alcohol was consumed, according to an arrest affidavit filed by McGettigan.
The woman stated to investigators that she suspected Cirillo placed a substance in her drink that impaired her, according to the criminal complaint.
Cirillo is not charged with drugging the woman.
The woman claimed when she was alone in the residence with Cirillo she “blacked out” about 9 p.m.
“She had no memory of what happened for the remainder of the night. Although she had no specific recollection, she suspected she may have been sexually assaulted by Cirillo after blacking out,” McGettigan alleged in the arrest affidavit. “The victim stated to investigators that she did not consent to any sexual contact with Cirillo.”
The woman, detectives alleged, communicated with Cirillo by phone and text messages in the days following the incident.
“The victim stated that it was during these communications that Cirillo acknowledged that he and the victim had sex,” McGettigan alleged.
During the investigation, with the knowledge of detectives, the woman arranged to meet with Cirillo at her residence on Aug. 8, court papers revealed. The conversation Cirillo had with the woman while alone with her inside the residence “was successfully intercepted and recorded” by detectives, court papers indicate.
During the intercepted conversation, Cirillo told the woman he helped her to her bedroom and “repeatedly confirmed he had engaged in sexual intercourse with the victim” and assured her he was careful to avoid pregnancy and that he did not have any sexually transmitted diseases, McGettigan alleged.
When confronted by detectives, Cirillo allegedly admitted to performing a sex act on the “highly intoxicated, semi-conscious” woman in her bed. However, contrary to what he said during the recorded conversation, Cirillo denied having intercourse with the woman, according to court papers. Cirillo is the son of the late Vincent A. Cirillo, a former Lower Merion commissioner, county prosecutor and judge who went on to be president judge of the Pennsylvania Superior Court from 1986 to 1990.