McAllister: 'I want them to hear the facts'

The upcoming sex-assault trial for a Franklin County Republican state senator, scheduled to begin next week, has been postponed following the prosecution's request for a delay, court papers show.

Sen. Norm McAllister, 64, of Highgate Center said he's disappointed the trial has been delayed, because he and his defense team have been prepared to argue the case for months.

"I thought we were going to be done with this," McAllister told the Burlington Free Press on Thursday. "It would have been nice to have this all done before we got to the primaries, and especially the election. Now it's going to be dragged out even beyond that."

McAllister is one of three Republican candidates in the Tuesday primary for two spots in November's general election. He said Thursday he would be "shocked" if he won.

A motion to continue the case reveals the reason for the postponement: a family emergency involving Franklin County Deputy State's Attorney Diane Wheeler.

McAllister's attorney Brooks McArthur said in an interview Thursday that lawyers were looking to reschedule the trial sometime in December, largely because McArthur has scheduling conflicts with other court proceedings in September through November.

McAllister is accused of one count of sexual assault and three counts of prohibited acts arising from claims he sexually assaulted two women who were his tenants and employees on his Highgate dairy farm. He faces three years to life in prison if convicted.

This would be the second trial for McAllister following his arrest outside the Statehouse in Montpelier in May 2015 on charges alleging misconduct with three women.

During his first trial in June on two counts of sexual assault without consent, the prosecution dismissed the charges in the middle of testimony from the state's chief witness, the woman who said McAllister assaulted her. The woman, who says she was 16 when the assaults began, worked first as a farmhand for McAllister and later as an intern for him in Montpelier.

McAllister said the way the trial ended has done little to rehabilitate his reputation, because the case was dismissed before the defense was able to call witnesses. He said his defense team did a good job poking holes in the accuser's testimony, and "it was only going to get worse" for prosecutors once the defense presentation began.

"I had witnesses ... that were going to refute what they were saying," McAllister said Thursday. "But, we never got to hear from them. So the way it ended left as many questions in many people's minds that didn't know what was going on. I was disappointed with the way it ended. It's one of those questions where you win, but you lose."

The accusations were split into two separate trials, one involving the Montpelier intern, and the second involving the woman connected to McAllister's dairy farm.

State dismisses sex-assault charges against Sen. McAllister

According to a transcript of the first trial's final day, Wheeler, the prosecutor, told the judge that McAllister's accuser said she lied one time during her testimony when the defense asked about her relationship with another farmhand. The woman expressed remorse for the lie, the transcript shows.

The woman maintains the assaults happened despite how the trial ended, her lawyer has said.

The Burlington Free Press generally does not identify people who say they were victims of sex crimes unless they agree to be named.

McAllister has maintained he is innocent and never forced sex on anyone. He declined Thursday to comment on the upcoming trial but said he hopes he can set the record straight after the proceedings.

"I know I didn't do anything," McAllister said. "I've got to put my faith in the system that it works."

He added, "I want 12 of my peers from Franklin County to judge me, but I want them to hear the facts. They haven't heard the facts. They just started hearing them in that last trial, and they shut down before we even got to make a full case of it."

McAllister is running for re-election to the Senate. State Rep. Carolyn Branagan and incumbent Sen. Dustin Degree also are seeking the Republican nomination in their Franklin County district, which has two seats. The primary election is Tuesday.

McAllister said he has spent no money on his campaign, instead mostly relying on re-using campaign signs and talking to constituents. He said media coverage and the nature of the allegations has made him feel he has a poor chance of winning the primary election.

The senator said he hopes Franklin County resident will judge him on his voting record and his 14-year history of public service.

"I've kept my word, and I've never misrepresented my positions on anything," McAllister said. "I've represented them to the best of my ability ... but the problem is we have this other thing that's hanging over, and it's turned into a political thing."

Jury selection for McAllister's second trial would have taken place the same day as the primary had the trial gone forward as scheduled.

This story was first posted online on Aug. 4, 2016, and has been updated. Contact Elizabeth Murray at 651-4835 or emurray@freepressmedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at @LizMurraySMC.

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