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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Prosecutor Nancy Violi told jurors Wednesday that by trial&#8217;s end, they would have enough &#8220;pieces of the puzzle&#8221; to convict Andrew Dula III of sexually assaulting a severely disabled woman.</p><p>But Dula&#8217;s attorney, Al Flora Jr., said prosecutors &#8220;have nothing&#8221; and are asking jurors to speculate.</p><p>Dula, 56, of Shickshinny, is facing felony sex charges after he was accused of sexually assaulting a then 36-year-old patient at Community Living, a home for people with disabilities in Kingston where he worked.</p><p>The patient, who is not being identified by the Times Leader due to the nature of the alleged crimes against her, suffers from &#8220;severe mental retardation&#8221; and cerebral palsy, leaving her with the mental capacity of an infant.</p><p>Dula allegedly confessed to the crimes during a police interview, and he was initially set to plead guilty. But he later rejected a plea deal.</p><p>Violi described the alleged victim in her opening statement as &#8220;basically a small child in a woman&#8217;s body.&#8221;</p><p>She said a series of strange behaviors by Dula combined to paint a picture of sexual assault. She said other employees at the home arrived at that conclusion, and she believes jurors would as well.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s the small pieces of the puzzle that come together to make one big picture,&#8221; said Violi.</p><p>But Flora said jurors would need to take all the evidence into account, and when they did, he said they would not convict his client.</p><p>&#8220;The law. The law,&#8221; he began his opening statement. &#8220;Not vengeance, not retribution, not bigotry, not the egregiousness of the crime charged, but it is the law that must guide your conscience in this case.&#8221;</p><p>Flora said the evidence would suggest there are simply no physical signs of sexual abuse. He said sexual assault examinations came back negative, adding that forensic testing found no bodily fluids or other things generally associated with sex assaults.</p><p><strong>Diaper changes</strong></p><p>Tonya Gilroy, a former employee at the care home, gave lengthy testimony Wednesday as she described Dula&#8217;s behavior.</p><p>She claimed Dula frequently performed unnecessary diaper changes of the patient. Gilroy was supposed to be the patient&#8217;s primary caretaker, but she said Dula would often change the patient&#8217;s diaper almost immediately after she did.</p><p>Additionally, she claimed Dula would often spend an inordinate amount of time in the home&#8217;s basement, adding she once found him there on an extra bed with his pants unzipped and open.</p><p>But Flora, showing documentation charts, said there&#8217;s nothing on the chart that suggests Dula was making unnecessary diaper changes. Gilroy did not deny this.</p><p>Later in the day, Jocelyn Robertson, who still works at Community Living, testified that records showed the alleged victim typically slept less on nights when Dula worked than on other nights, and also had her diaper changed much more frequently. Robertson said she also frequently found unused diapers discarded in the trash.</p><p>Robertson talked about one morning when she came into the patient&#8217;s room to give her her morning medicine. When Dula walked in, he told her in an almost frantic tone,&#8220;I already gave her her meds,&#8221; Robertson recalled.</p><p>Robertson said when Dula entered the room, the patient&#8217;s entire disposition changed, beginning to cry out and trying to grab for Robertson. She said once Dula left, the patient went back to her normal self.</p><p>Testimony continues Thursday morning.</p><style>
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<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_web1_dula-cmyk-3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Dula </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_web1_dula-cmyk-3.jpg</photo0><caption0>Dula </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Patrick Kernan</p><p>pkernan@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Patrick Kernan at 570-991-6386 or on Twitter @PatKernan</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Defense attorney: Prosecution has ‘nothing’ on sex-assault suspect