Bellas dismisses 3 counts of sexual abuse vs. Arriola

Superior Court Associate Judge Timothy H. Bellas has dismissed Friday three of the five counts of the sexual abuse case filed against lawyer Joseph A. Arriola on grounds of multiplicity.

In his order, Judge Bellas noted that counts III, IV and V contained in the information failed to distinguish that the alleged sexual contact with the minor, identified only as J.C.M., occurred on three separate occasions.

Meanwhile, Judge Bellas denied Friday the motion of Mr. Arriola seeking dismissal of the information filed against him.

Mr. Arriola was charged with five counts of sexual abuse of a child by the Attorney General’s Office in January of this year. Based on the complaint, Counts I and II charged Mr. Arriola with sexual contact with J.C.M. on Jan. 4 and Jan. 24 or 25, 1998. Counts III, IV and V of the information alleged that the defendant engaged in sexual contact with the victim on or about Jan. 4, 1998 through July 26, 1998.

“The Counts do not differ in time frame from each other, nor are they distinguished by the alleged act,” Judge Bellas said. Each count in the information is exactly the same and the information as drafted in Counts III, IV and V appear to overlap with Counts I and II.

According to Judge Bellas, there is no way for the court to determine whether the acts alleged in Counts III, IV and V are distinct or separate instances.

“While the court is aware that sexual abuse over a long period of time involving children may cause them to have difficulty recalling the specific dates of their abuse, this does not excuse the government’s obligation to insure that an accused is not charged repeatedly for the same offense,” Judge Bellas added.

Despite an order issued by the court on May 3, 2000 granting the defendant’s motion for a bill of particulars, the government has yet to comply with the order as the trial stands to commence in early November.

In his motion seeking dismissal of the information filed against him, Mr. Arriola claimed that the accusation of “sexual contact” failed to include a specific language in the Commonwealth Code, omitted an essential element of the offense and failed to allege any criminal offense at all.

However, the Attorney General’s Office maintained that even though the information omitted the specific intent language and contained no reference to its definition in the statute, there is no doubt that sexual contact was included by reference.

Judge Bellas stressed that Mr. Arriola does not contend, nor the court can even imagine, that he does not understand the charges against him or he was even misled. “Indeed, by moving to dismiss the information for failing to allege the element of guilty knowledge, he shows that he is aware of that element and must defend against it at trial,” Judge Bellas added.

Mr. Arriola has been informed that he cannot be convicted unless the Commonwealth proves that: 1) he engaged in sexual contact 2) the victim is a child under the age of 16 and 3) the victim was not his spouse.

According to Judge Bellas, the parties agreed that sexual abuse of a child is a specific intent crime and that to sustain a conviction, the government must prove that Mr. Arriola “engaged in the prohibited conduct for the specific purpose of aggression or degradation, or arousing or gratifying sexual desire.” (LFR)