Bail Petition Granted for Man Held on Charges of Rape or First Degree Sexual Assault
Foster Police arrested a man on multiple counts of rape or first-degree sexual assault following a report from a woman he met online. The two met via an online dating website. After corresponding by email, phone and text message for about a month, which included discussions of sex, they planned to meet. The woman invited the man to pick her up at home.
They went to a restaurant for drinks and appetizers and then returned to the woman’s home. They parked in her driveway, mutually kissed and discussing going inside have sex. The man had to use the restroom, so she let him in for this purpose. Once finished, she claimed he physically attacked and raped her.
After intercourse, he left. Two days later, the woman cried rape. The man was arrested near his home in Massachusetts. He waived extradition to Rhode Island and upon arriving to the Ocean State, retained Rhode Island Sex Assault Defense Lawyer, John L. Calcagni III, to defend him in this matter.
The man initially appeared in RI District Court and was ordered held without bail pending the outcome of an evidentiary bail hearing. At the hearing, the woman testified to the above facts.
She further admitted her hesitance to allow the man inside her home because he did not have a condom and she was dating another person. She also admitted to kissing the man in her kitchen and that the sex was unprotected and included ejaculation.
After spending the weekend with her children and tending to personal affairs, the woman elected to notify police by reporting this encounter as a rape.
Despite Attorney Calcagni’s best arguments, the District Court denied the his client’s application for bail and ordered him to remain held without bail. In response, Attorney Calcagni petitioned the Superior Court to release his client on bail.
He emphasized the man’s lack of criminal history, business and real estate holdings, multiple forms of employment, and family in neighboring Massachusetts.
He also reminded the Superior Court of the woman’s implausible story, motives to fabricate and delayed report. Based on this collective information, the Superior Court ordered the man’s release on surety bail.