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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; After numerous delays, the trial of a man accused of sexually abusing a handicapped woman will be delayed one more time with jury deliberations set to start Thursday morning.</p><p>Andrew Dula, 56, of Shickshinny, is accused of sexually assaulting a severely mentally and physically disabled woman while working as a caregiver at Community Living in Kingston. The alleged incidents occurred through late 2015 and early 2016, prosecutors say.</p><p>For a trial that had been marked by repeated delays, including dozens of objections by Dula&#8217;s defense attorney Al Flora Jr., two full days of jury selection and a full day being lost due to inclement weather, things progressed smoothly Wednesday with both sides resting their case and proceeding to closing arguments.</p><p>After Assistant District Attorney Nancy Violi took more than a week to present her case, Flora wrapped up his defense in less than two hours with four witnesses.</p><p>Flora called two character witnesses, who both previously worked with Dula. They testified he had a &#8220;reputation&#8221; for being a law-abiding person. He also called two former employees of the home, who testified the alleged victim would often cry out when workers attempted to do things she didn&#8217;t like, similar to the way she reportedly cried out during one of the alleged instances of sexual abuse.</p><p><strong>&#8216;Can&#8217;t prove crime&#8217;</strong></p><p>In his closing argument, Flora maintained that despite a lengthy confession tape played for the jury, the proof simply isn&#8217;t there to even show a crime had been committed.</p><p>&#8220;You&#8217;re probably sitting here, saying to yourself, &#8216;Andy Dula gave a 25-minute confession, so why are we even here deciding this case? It seems open and shut,&#8217;&#8221; he said to jurors. &#8220;I wish it was that simple.&#8221;</p><p>In Dula&#8217;s confession, he told Kingston detectives about how he inappropriately touched the alleged victim&#8217;s genitals and breasts and attempted to force her to perform oral sex on him.</p><p>But Flora, who tried to block the jury from hearing the tape, argued jurors need to determine if a crime had occurred before considering the confession.</p><p>&#8220;You cannot in any way consider the statements Andy Dula made to the police until the prosecution first proves beyond a reasonable doubt that a crime has been committed,&#8221; he said.</p><p>Flora suggested the confession is the sole basis of the case for the prosecution.</p><p>&#8220;Would Andy Dula have been arrested in this case if there had been no confession?&#8221; Flora asked. &#8220;If your answer is &#8216;no,&#8217; you must find him not guilty, because it suggests they can&#8217;t prove a crime.&#8221;</p><p>Flora reminded jurors there was no physical evidence tying Dula to the alleged assaults. In fact, there was no physical evidence that definitively proved that a sexual assault had even occurred, with no bodily fluids being found and no obvious injuries on the patient&#8217;s body.</p><p>Flora went on to suggest Dula&#8217;s confession was coerced, saying it did not come until after he repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. Flora argued Dula should have been read his Miranda rights at some point during the interview, which he suggests did not happen.</p><p>&#8220;What we&#8217;re dealing with is a mental manipulation game,&#8221; he said.</p><p><strong>&#8216;Doesn&#8217;t take genius&#8217;</strong></p><p>In her closing argument, Violi argued that in spite of the lack of physical evidence, there were &#8220;red flags&#8221; that showed Dula violated the alleged victim.</p><p>She pointed to documents which show Dula repeatedly changed the patient&#8217;s diaper throughout the night, with testimony suggesting he would frequently remove clean diapers from her.</p><p>&#8220;Somehow, the defendant over and over and over and over again changes a clean, dry diaper,&#8221; Violi said.</p><p>&#8220;You don&#8217;t make the same mistake this many times with this one resident,&#8221; she noted.</p><p>Violi also pointed to documentation signed by Dula that has inaccuracies, along with his habit of wearing exclusively long johns at work.</p><p>&#8220;If you want to expose yourself to someone, you can pull the long johns up and down pretty fast,&#8221; she said.</p><p>She told jurors the conclusion that Dula was abusing the patient is the only logical one.</p><p>&#8220;It doesn&#8217;t take a genius to figure out that a man who gets a woman naked from the waist down with no legitimate reason is abusing her.&#8221;</p><p>With Violi&#8217;s closing argument not finishing until 4:30 p.m., Luzerne County Judge David W. Lupas decided to begin deliberations Thursday morning.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Dula </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_web1_dula-cmyk-3-6.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>

Deliberations to begin Thursday morning in sex-assault trial