Jury forces miscarriage of justice in first YDC criminal trial

A judge declared the trial void on Tuesday after the jury could not agree whether Victor Malavet was guilty of repeatedly raping a teenage girl in 2001 while working as a counselor at a state juvenile detention center.

Malavet was charged with twelve counts of aggravated sexual assault, each count carrying a sentence of up to ten to twenty years in prison.

It was the first criminal trial They are the result of a special investigation by the Attorney General into allegations of widespread child abuse in New Hampshire's juvenile correctional system and other facilities for minors.

A note from the foreman of the jury was read by Judge Daniel St. Hilaire in the courtroom on Tuesday afternoon: “After further time of careful deliberation, we are still unable to reach a unanimous decision on the charges.”

The jury had continued its deliberations after informing the judge earlier that day that it had not reached an agreement.

Malavet and his defense attorneys declined to comment immediately after the verdict.

Attorney General John Formella said in a statement that the outcome of the trial was “disappointing.”

“We remain committed to supporting victims and continue our efforts to investigate and prosecute abuse,” the statement said.

It is unclear whether the state plans to retry the case.

Malavet's prosecutor Natasha Maunsell left the courtroom visibly upset.

During the trial, prosecutors portrayed Malavet as a sex offender who “took what he wanted from a child” when he allegedly raped Maunsell multiple times while she was incarcerated at the former Youth Detention Services Unit (YDSU) in Concord over 20 years ago. Maunsell was 16 at the time.

Malavet's lawyers argued the allegations were lies aimed at supporting Maunsell's civil suit against the state for the same alleged abuse. Maunsell, now 39, is one of Nearly 1,300 people sue the state over child abuse allegations at the former Youth Development Center (YDC), YDSU, and more than 50 other youth facilities operated or contracted by the State of New Hampshire. Earlier this year, a jury found the state civilly liable in the case of David Meehan for alleged child abuse at the YDC and awarded him historic 38 million dollarsalthough this judgment still controversial.

The jury rigging is a blow to the attorney general's investigation, which has been criticized for charging only a small percentage of the hundreds of former employees named as abusers in the civil suits. Two of the 11 original criminal cases against former employees were dropped – one because the defendant was found unfit to stand trialand another because the defendant died.

The Malavet trial also highlighted the stark difference in tone between the state's positions in criminal and civil proceedings.

Prosecutors portrayed Malavet's accuser, Natasha Maunsell, as a “lost child who has had a difficult life,” while Malavet's defense emphasized that Maunsell was convicted of attacking two YDC employees with a metal pipe during an escape attempt.

In contrast, attorneys for the state described YDC plaintiff David Meehan earlier this year as “angry and violent young man”, and repeatedly stressed that he had been involved in a violent escape attempt.