BENNINGTON, Vt. (AP) — A Vermont judge has dismissed a decades-old sexual assault case against a Florida man nearly a month after the suspect died at his home, but prosecutors want to make sure the case isn’t removed from the public record.
On Tuesday, Vermont Superior Court Judge Cortland Corsones granted the request to dismiss the charges against the now-deceased Leonard Forte, which had been filed by the office of the Bennington County State’s Attorney.
Forte, 80, a retired investigator with a New York prosecutor’s office, died of cardiac arrest at his LaBelle home on Dec. 22.
Under a new Vermont law the dismissal of the charges could lead to the removal, or expungement, of the case from the official record. But prosecutors asked the judge not to expunge the case, arguing it would be a miscarriage of justice for the victim.
“The interests of justice must now apply to the victim who was 12 years old when she was sexually assaulted and 14 years old when she testified 33 years ago and who has fought hard and long for her day in court again,” the motion said. “She has waited decades for the retrial and ultimately has been denied access to justice.”
Forte’s Vermont defense attorney did not immediately return a message Wednesday seeking comment.
Forte was convicted in 1988 of sexually assaulting the 12-year-old girl at his Landgrove vacation home, but a judge set aside the conviction because the female prosecutor in the case was too emotional.
The state charged him again in 1997, but the case has remained in limbo as Forte claimed a heart condition made him too sick to travel and stand trial.
A Vermont court ruled late last year he could stand trial, but he died before he could be brought back to Vermont.
A hearing on the state’s request to keep the record open was scheduled for March 14.
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