CLEARFIELD – The trial got under way Monday in Clearfield County Court for a Madera man who has been accused of forcing a girl to have sex with him over a three-year period beginning in 2012.
Robert Philbert Myers, 36, of Madera is standing trial on charges, which include 20 counts each of rape forcible compulsion; statutory sexual assault-11 years older; involuntary deviate sexual intercourse-person less than 16 years of age; and indecent assault-person less than 16 years of age.
Clearfield County District Attorney William A. Shaw Jr. is presenting the case on behalf of the commonwealth. Myers is being represented by defense attorneys Carl Zwick and Leanne Nedza. Judge Paul E. Cherry is presiding over the trial, which is scheduled through Friday.
In his opening statements, Shaw provided a thumbnail sketch of the case. He said Myers is on trial for allegedly raping and sexually assaulting a girl over a three-year period, beginning in July of 2012 and ending in July of 2014.
He said Myers started out making inappropriate comments toward the victim when she was about 12 or 13 years old. It then progressed to him having inappropriate contact with her and eventually forcing her to have sex with him.
According to Shaw, Myers not only psychologically and emotionally coerced the victim to have sex with him, but also not to tell anyone. He warned her that no one would believe her, and she’d be in more trouble than him.
When Zwick opened to the jury, he said the district attorney had gone over the “disgusting allegations.” He said if they were wondering how he could defend Myers, it was because he’d been falsely accused and didn’t commit any of those “heinous and disgusting crimes.”
He continued on, telling jurors that it was all made up and to pay close attention for inconsistences in the “complainant’s” testimony during the trial. Zwick also reminded them that Myers is innocent until proven guilty, which is the commonwealth’s burden.
The victim, now 18, testified that Myers forced her to have sex with him in a Madera residence and in his tractor-trailer, which had a sleeper cab. He also forced her to perform sex acts on him, she said.
She told jurors that Myers was very persistent anytime she refused and she was afraid of him due to his size and him becoming angry. She said when he would ask her for sex, she would eventually agree to it.
She said that at times he would help her get out of trouble with her mother for being caught smoking or not make her pay him for her car payment in exchange for sex.
After sexually assaulting her, she said he would tell her not to tell anyone because she would get into more trouble than him, as well as that no one would believe a child over an adult.
Shaw also presented the victim with Facebook messages, which she validated as being from Myers, asking her if “the weenie wash was open.” After she refused to have sex, he sent another message, claiming that “it’s not rape. It’s love.”
When asked by Shaw, she said when the assaults first began they were occurring once or twice a month. But as she got older, they were occurring more frequently and sometimes two or three times a week.
The victim told jurors she did not tell anyone the assaults were occurring out of fear and embarrassment. But she eventually told her mother, and they reported it at the state police Clearfield barracks.
Under cross-examination, Nedza pressed the victim about inconsistencies in her statements throughout the investigation as to where she was raped by Myers for the first time.
The victim said that she recalled the first three happened close together, and she struggled to put everything in exact order.
When asked why some details of the alleged assaults weren’t disclosed until later interviews, she said each interviewer asked her different questions and some details she didn’t think to include until asked about them as the interview process progressed for the investigation.
She also explained a lot was going through her mind and it was a very stressful time for her.
Nedza then presented the victim with a series of Facebook posts in which she talked about Myers in a positive way. But under cross and re-direct, she said it was her way of trying to keep her life normal and to block out what was happening to her.
The trial will resume at 9 a.m. Tuesday before Cherry in Courtroom 2.
