February 21, 2022 at 2:01 p.m.
Former school custodian convicted of sexual assault to get new trial
Former school custodian convicted of sexual assault to get new trial
In an oral ruling delivered from the bench late Thursday afternoon, Oneida County circuit judge Michael Bloom found that Stavros Iliopoulos is entitled to a new trial because he did not receive "effective assistance of counsel" when the case was originally tried to an Oneida County jury back in September 2019.
Iliopoulos, 68, was sentenced to 14 years in prison, to be followed by 16 years extended supervision, after that jury convicted him of child enticement, false imprisonment and first-degree child sexual assault. He remains in custody following Bloom's ruling, however bail may be reconsidered at a status conference set for March 14.
On June 15, 2021, assistant state public defender Jefren Olson filed a motion for post-conviction relief arguing that trial attorney Andrew Morgan failed to provide Iliopoulos with "effective assistance of counsel" during the 2019 trial. Specifically, the motion faulted trial counsel for his failure to seek exclusion of or request discovery relative to key DNA evidence, as well as his decision not to cross examine the complaining witness and his failure to present evidence that Iliopoulos had denied the child's claims.
"The jury did not know that this is a case with two sides, for Iliopoulos has consistently denied the allegations," Olson wrote in a submission to the court summarizing his arguments. "Though the presence of DNA evidence makes this case somewhat different than a classic credibility battle which pits the word of the accuser against the word of the accused, the overall result of trial counsel's errors was a trial in which only one side - the prosecution's side - was heard. Yet that side was not tested. Trial counsel left (the complaining witness's) statement completely untested by failing to cross examine her. Trial counsel left the corroborating evidence unchallenged by failing to seek to exclude the DNA evidence when he had the chance or, at least, seek the additional information to properly contextualize and thus diminish the power of that evidence. He did not seek to introduce ... any additional evidence about Iliopoulos's statement to the detectives, leaving the jury to hear only that Iliopoulos admitted that (the child) was in the closet and that he told her not to tell anyone. Because trial counsel at all turns failed to contest the proof offered by the state, it was easy for the jury to convict."
The charges were filed after a fifth-grade student at Northwoods Community Elementary School reported that Iliopoulos had intercepted her as she was leaving a school restroom in September 2018, forced her into a janitor's closet and kissed her upper chest and stomach area.
Iliopoulos has claimed the child walked into the closet on her own and he physically ejected her after she did not respond to his request that she leave.
Hearings on the post-conviction motion were held in November and December 2021 and featured testimony from Morgan as well as a DNA expert who performed an independent review of the evidence in the case.
In the ruling, Bloom found that Olson had shown that trial counsel's performance was "deficient" and the deficient performance "prejudiced" the defendant. He also directed Olson to advise the public defender's office to "put this on top of their stack" in terms of prioritizing the appointment of a new attorney for Iliopoulos.
A full story explaining the judge's ruling will be published in the next edition of the River News.
Heather Schaefer may be reached at [email protected].
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