BENNINGTON — A 78-year-old Florida man failed to call in to a status conference prompting the judge to reschedule the proceeding to next week, when the man’s participation will be required.
The status conference was to determine the timeline for the upcoming trial of Leonard Forte, a retired New York detective who now lives in LaBelle, Florida, who was accused of sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl in Bennington County in 1987.
If Forte does not call in to the conference next week, Judge Cortland Corsones said, he could face a warrant for his arrest.
In 1988, a jury convicted Forte of three counts of sexual assault. However, the judge at the time threw out the conviction because he found the female prosecutor in the case to have been overly emotional during her closing arguments.
The case was subsequently set for retrial, but faced decades of delays after a doctor reported that Forte was on “death’s bed,” and too ill to travel to Vermont for a trial. However, a USA Today report in November revealed that Forte didn’t appear to be nearly as ill as he was portraying to the court.
On Friday, Attorney General TJ Donovan announced the new slate of prosecutors for the case, pushing aside lead prosecutor David Tartter, who had been on the case for 25 years.
Assistant Attorney General Linda Purdy is leading the prosecution and will be joined by Jeffrey Amestoy, a former Vermont attorney general and Vermont Supreme Court chief justice, and Brian Burgess, a former deputy attorney general and Vermont Supreme Court associate justice.
On Monday, those lawyers asked Corsones to issue a warrant for Forte’s arrest based on his failure to appear in court for the status conference, noting that he had been told multiple times that his presence was expected for the proceeding. John Campbell, executive director of the Department of State’s Attorneys, said it would be “warranted and even necessary” to do so.
Forte’s lawyer, Susan Keane McManus, argued that the law does not require a defendant’s presence at status conferences, either in person or by phone. McManus said the initial letter that her office mailed to Forte informing him of the status conference listed an incorrect time, leaving it unclear whether he knew when to call in.
McManus added that she was only formally appointed as Forte’s counsel last week, making it all the more difficult to have gotten in touch through the mail about the status conference.
Corsones said he found the idea of Forte not knowing his presence was expected at the conference to be “somewhat disingenuous,” but agreed to give him a week before considering an arrest warrant. He agreed to the prosecution’s request that he issue a judicial summons to try to ensure Forte’s participation in the next conference.
Prosecutors said they are prepared for an April jury selection for the case. The defense lawyers, meanwhile, said they would like more time to prepare, given how recently they were assigned to the case. Corsones asked both sides to submit written proposals which he could consider at the upcoming status conference.
Corsones also complied with a request by the prosecution that the victim be allowed to listen in on, but not participate in, any further status conferences in the case. She is now 45 years old, and lives out of state.
After the hearing, Purdy said the victim has been extremely helpful throughout the years-long effort to get Forte behind bars.
“Certainly 30 years creates some challenges but we feel that the evidence will be strong, the victim is willing to testify in this case, and her testimony is key,” she said.
Purdy said she was satisfied with the day’s proceedings, and the judge’s order that Forte appear at next week’s status conference, and looks forward to getting to finally retry the case.
Lawyers for the defense declined to comment.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Defendant fails to appear for status conference in 30-year-old sex assault case.