Opinion ID: 218928
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Evidence as to the Abuse of S.O.

Text: S.O. testified that she was sexually abused by her mother, by her mother's sex partner, George Lang (or George or Lang), by Sacco, and by two strangers in encounters arranged by her mother.
O'Connor began abusing S.O. in the bathroom of their home in Deposit, New York, in 2004, when S.O. was 10 years of age. In the guise of helping S.O. wash and dry herself, O'Connor started touching S.O. inappropriately, such as by rubbing her vagina. ( See Trial Transcript (Tr.) 1458-59.) S.O., who by then had been bathing herself for two years, asked her mother to stop; but the abuse escalated; approximately twice a month, O'Connor would lead S.O., naked, from the bathroom to O'Connor's bedroom, where O'Connor, naked, would kiss and touch S.O.'s genitalia and require S.O. to reciprocate. ( See id. at 1459-61.) S.O. testified that pleading with her mother to stop was useless ( id. at 1461) because O'Connor's response was that she was my mother and I was supposed to do what she said ( id. at 1460). Thus, S.O. ceased to protest. ( See id. at 1461.) In 2004, O'Connor and S.O. were spending substantial amounts of time with George and Renee Lang, a married couple whom S.O. sometimes called Grandpa and Grandma ( id. at 1306). During this period, O'Connor was sometimes late in paying the rent and was threatened with eviction ( see id. at 1500-01); Lang would sometimes help O'Connor with the rent ( see id. at 1457, 1501). O'Connor and George Lang communicated frequently online ( see id. at 1465), often sending each other pornographic images ( see id. at 1237). In 2004, O'Connor and S.O. spent many weekends at the Langs' home in nearby Nineveh, New York; O'Connor and Lang were sex partners, engaging in sexual activities in the Langs' living room after Renee Lang (or Renee) had gone to sleep and could be heard snoring in the Langs' bedroom. After S.O. walked in on O'Connor and George one night and saw them having intercourse, O'Connor required S.O. to participate in sexual activities with them: George kissed and touched S.O.; O'Connor kissed and touched George; O'Connor kissed and touched S.O. (Tr. 1476-79.) In the ensuing months, George Lang continued to abuse S.O., sometimes with O'Connor and sometimes individually. George and O'Connor would ply S.O. with liquor before molesting her. One adult would sometimes take photographs of S.O. as she performed sex acts on the other, and George would later show S.O. the photos on his computer. George engaged in oral and manual sex with S.O. but not intercourse. ( See id. at 1481-88.) In late 2004, George Lang was diagnosed with cancer, and his abuse of S.O., although continuing, became less frequent ( see id. at 1496). O'Connor and S.O. stopped going to the Langs' home in early 2006 after arguments between O'Connor and Renee or George. ( See id. at 1263-65, 1497-98.) In July 2006, Lang succumbed to his cancer. ( See id. at 1320.)
In June 2006, a flood forced O'Connor and S.O. out of their home in Deposit, and at the beginning of August they moved into the downstairs apartment of a house at 45 Fair Street in Norwich, New York (45 Fair), where their new landlord was Sacco. ( See Tr. 1453, 1470, 1502-04.) On the day they moved in, Sacco told them he lived in New Jersey but that since he had to be back in Norwich the next day, he planned to spend the night in his car; O'Connor invited him to sleep in the apartment instead. ( See id. at 1507, 1622-23.) During the night, S.O. woke up to find Sacco kissing her; he had removed her clothing and soon was having intercourse with her. Sacco told S.O. to be quiet, and S.O., terrified, obeyed. Sacco eventually stopped, dressed, and left the room, leaving S.O. crying into her pillow. S.O. did not tell O'Connor. ( See id. at 1507-09.) Little more than a week later, S.O. ingested and injected herself with some of her mother's medicines in an attempt to commit suicide. She was hospitalized, and the Chenango County Department of Social Services (DSS) was notified. ( See Tr. 804-05, 1510-11.) Later in August 2006, DSS learned that O'Connor herself had gone to the hospital seeking treatment for kidney stones and had left S.O. at home unsupervised. A DSS caseworker, finding S.O. home alone, with nothing in the kitchen except rotten food and frozen items that S.O. did not know how to prepare, determined that S.O. could not care for herself and arranged to have her transferred to the temporary custody of Renee Lang. ( See id. at 815-18.) During the period in which she was living with Renee, S.O. told social workers that Sacco trie[d] to hug her a lot and that he creep[ed] her out and scare[d] her. ( Id. at 827; see id. at 1521.) O'Connor, once out of the hospital, showered S.O. with gifts and promised that their relationship would improve; and both of them wanted to resume living together. ( See id. at 821-22, 1516-20.) In October, the Family Court held a hearing at which DSS recommended that S.O. instead be placed in foster care. The court rejected that recommendation and returned S.O. to O'Connor's custody. However, in light of DSS's report of S.O.'s prior statements about Sacco's repeated creep[y] hugging, the court ordered O'Connor not to allow S.O. to have unsupervised contact with Sacco. ( Id. at 826-27.) O'Connor ignored that condition, and a few weeks later, Sacco sexually abused S.O. again. In late October, the upstairs apartment at 45 Fair had become vacant. Sacco soon arrived at 45 Fair and spoke with O'Connor at the door. After a conversation that S.O. could not hear, O'Connor came in and got S.O., and Sacco instructed S.O. to join him upstairs. ( See id. at 1522-23, 1527.) Upstairs, Sacco had intercourse with S.O. He then used a camera with a zoom lens to take pornographic photographs of her. ( See id. at 1523-25.) When she initially refused to pose as instructed, Sacco hit her. ( See id. at 1525.) When Sacco finally allowed S.O. to leave, she ran downstairs to her mother, who was in the kitchen. Crying, S.O. told O'Connor, [M]om, Dean is doing stuff that's hurting me. ( Id. at 1526.) O'Connor responded, [I]t's better than being homeless, and left the room. ( Id. ) The next time Sacco abused S.O., on Thanksgiving in 2006, he was joined by O'Connor. After serving S.O. alcohol at dinner ( see Tr. 1531), Sacco and O'Connor took S.O. into her bedroom, where, first, Sacco had intercourse with S.O. Then Sacco had intercourse with O'Connor. S.O. was then ordered to perform oral sex on Sacco and to kiss her mother. ( See id. at 1528.) Sacco had again brought a camera, which appeared to S.O. to be the same one he had used to take pornographic pictures of S.O. previously; and he and O'Connor took turns taking pictures of each other as they abused S.O. ( See id. at 1529.) At one point, after O'Connor and Sacco had ignored S.O.'s pleas to stop, S.O. threatened to tell someone about the abuse. Sacco responded, [I]f you tell[,] then I'll stab you and rape you as you die. ( Id. at 1530.) S.O. believed him. ( See id. ) Sacco had intercourse with S.O. twice in December 2006 in the upstairs apartment, including on S.O.'s thirteenth birthday ( see Tr. 1540, 1546). On the first occasion, O'Connor remained downstairs after she had spoken with Sacco at the door and ordered S.O. to join Sacco upstairs. ( See id. at 1541-42.) Sacco's abuse of S.O. on that occasion was interrupted by O'Connor's knock at the upstairs door to announce  through the door, without opening it  that the family of one of S.O.'s schoolmates had arrived to see S.O. ( See id. at 1543.) On the second occasion, O'Connor joined Sacco and S.O. in the upstairs apartment and participated in the abuse of S.O. ( See id. at 1547-48.) Sacco last abused S.O. in February 2007. In the meantime, he and O'Connor had begun to have frequent arguments about money, with Sacco telling O'Connor that she owed him rent and needed to pay him soon. ( See id. at 1555-56; see also id. at 2009-11 (testimony of a former Sacco employer (called as a witness by Sacco) that Sacco complained to him that the downstairs tenant at 45 Fair was not paying rent on time).) There was no evidence that the government found any of the photographs that S.O. testified were taken, and no such photographs were presented at trial. However, the government presented evidence that, in a search of a locked storage unit containing property belonging to Sacco, law enforcement agents had found a used condom. ( See id. at 309-10, 327-28.) Forensic analysis revealed that the outside of the condom bore S.O.'s DNA. ( See id. at 334-35, 1940-41.) The government also introduced evidence of Sacco's prior sexual abuse of other young girls, calling as witnesses one of those victims, as well as a police detective who had investigated those events and to whom Sacco had admitted being attracted to girls in the age range of 8-11 years. ( See Tr. 438-67, 677-78, 686.) And, as discussed in Part II.B.1. below, the government introduced published writings by Sacco in which he had described his pedophilic sexual appetites.
In December 2006, O'Connor and S.O. rode a bus to Binghamton, New York, and checked into a Best Western hotel in nearby Johnson City. That night, a man S.O. had never seen arrived at their hotel room, and O'Connor told S.O. to do what the man wants. The man proceeded to undress and to have intercourse and oral sex with S.O. O'Connor sat nearby, speaking only to remind S.O. to follow the man's orders. ( See Tr. 1533-37.) S.O. testified that when they arrived in Binghamton O'Connor had some money but not a lot, and that when the man left the hotel room O'Connor had a lot more money. ( Id. at 1539.) In January 2007, O'Connor again took S.O. to the Best Western, where they went into a room in which a man S.O. had never seen was waiting. O'Connor told S.O. to follow the man's orders, and the man had intercourse with S.O. and forced her to perform oral sex. Meanwhile, O'Connor sat in the room eating donuts and watching television. ( See id. at 1550-53.) S.O. went to the bathroom after the man had finished with her; when she emerged, the man was gone and there was money on the table. ( See id. at 1554.)