Woman: State senator sexually assaulted her
MONTPELIER, Vt. – A former legislative assistant to a Vermont state senator testified Wednesday he forced her into oral sex and intercourse at his home farm where she also worked.
Sen. Norman McAllister, on trial on two counts of sexual assault, sat stoically at the defense table as the 21-year-old woman testified he forced her to have oral sex in a barn at his farm and intercourse at his home.
The 69-year-old Republican lawmaker maintains his innocence, and last month declared his candidacy for re-election.
Suspended from his legislative post in January, he could get up to two life sentences if convicted on the two sexual assault charges.
McAllister’s attorney was to cross-examine the woman Wednesday afternoon.
The trial is expected to include testimony from some of McAllister’s legislative colleagues. And he also faces another trial in the case this fall on sex offenses involving two other women.
The start of the trial Wednesday was delayed when the state requested that McAllister’s accuser be neither video- nor audiotaped. A lawyer for the Burlington Free Press and other media members objected, particularly to any ban on audio recordings of her testimony.
A hearing on the issue stretched through the morning before Judge Robert Mello ruled that audio recordings would be allowed but not video or still photos of the woman.