CLEARFIELD – A jury deliberated for approximately an hour and 20 minutes Thursday before finding a local man guilty of raping a woman at a Curwensville apartment in 2021.
Douglas C. Albert, 54, of Curwensville was found guilty of felony rape-forcible compulsion, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse-forcible compulsion, sexual assault (two counts) and aggravated indecent assault, as well as misdemeanor indecent assault-person unconscious and indecent assault without consent.
He was found not guilty of felony rape-unconscious victim and IDSI-person unconscious.
Following his conviction, Albert had his bail revoked by Judge Paul E. Cherry and he was remanded to Clearfield County Jail to await sentencing.
Deputy District Attorney Trudy Lumadue prosecuted the case on behalf of the commonwealth. Albert was represented by defense attorney Joshua Maines.
Lumadue was very pleased with the verdict, commending the victim on her courageous testimony and jurors for being attentive and carefully considering their decision.
The commonwealth intends to ask the court for a prison sentence of 20 to 40 years.
According to trial testimony, the victim was asleep at her friend’s Curwensville apartment on March 31, 2021 when she was awoken by Albert inappropriately touching her.
Then, he proceeded to rape her, she told jurors, and as this was occurring, she became so overwhelmed by fear that she was unable to say or do anything to fight back.
Neither she nor Albert spoke during the encounter, she said, and at some point, Albert just got up and left as she saw his reflection in the television screen.
She said she was familiar with Albert, knew his build and that he was the only other person with the key to her friend’s apartment.
Following the incident, the victim called multiple friends and reported Albert had raped her. She also went next door where a neighbor had her call 911.
While waiting for arrival of state police, she said a male friend came to offer emotional support. Later he testified, describing the victim’s state of mind that night as “hysteric.”
Investigators had forensic DNA testing done, which determined the DNA belonging to Albert matched the Y chromosome collected in the victim’s rape kit.
In closing Maines tried to attack the victim’s credibility and pointed jurors to what he perceived as serious “inconsistencies” in her various accounts of the incident.
However, he said his client’s story has remained the same from beginning to end: “He was at home. That’s why we’re here today.”
Additionally, Maines said when Albert spoke with state police, he asked for a rape kit assessment to be done.
“That doesn’t sound guilty to me.”
Lumadue commenced her closing arguments by first commenting on Maines’ overuse of the word “inconsistent.”
She asked jurors to instead focus on all the consistencies and not to place unrealistic expectations on the victim to give the exact same account of the incident every time.
Lumadue said Albert was aware she was alone and let himself into the apartment where the victim was asleep and thought she was safe.
She (the victim) was awoken by Albert touching her inappropriately, she said. Then, he raped her.
“We don’t know what might have happened before that,” argued Lumadue. “She was stripped away of all her choices.
“By her own words, she ‘froze with fear’ that he would hurt her … and you heard her friends, she was ‘hysteric’ that night.”
She said the jury could find their “proof beyond a reasonable doubt” in the DNA analysis, which determined Albert’s DNA matched the Y chromosome in all three samples collected from the rape kit.
“It was match, match, match,” Lumadue said before asking jurors to “bring a conviction and justice” for the victim.
