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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; A Luzerne County jury deliberated about 90 minutes Thursday before convicting a Shickshinny man of sexually assaulting a mentally and physically disabled woman at a care home in Kingston.</p><p>Andrew Dula III, 56, didn&#8217;t flinch as he sat in a chair next to his lawyer, Al Flora, as the jury forewoman announced each verdict on eight sexual offense counts.</p><p>The verdicts ended a near two-week trial before Judge David Lupas but the case may continue on appeal.</p><p>Flora said he is confident if an appeal is filed, an appellate court will reverse the conviction.</p><p>Dula was convicted of assaulting a then 36-year-old patient at Community Living, a home for patients with disabilities operated by the nonprofit Institute for Human Resources and Services. The assaults occurred in 2015 and 2016.</p><p>Kingston police Det. Thomas Paratore charged Dula in March 2016.</p><p>Flora believes Dula&#8217;s confession to Paratore resulted in the conviction.</p><p>But Assistant District Attorney Nancy Violi felt confident the investigation and employees at the care home would have produced the same outcome without a confession.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;ve been confident from day one that we had enough to establish a purpose without the confession,&#8221; Violi said. &#8220;It was very obvious before that confession even occurred, it was obvious to several of the lay people that worked with (victim) that she was being sexually abused by him.&#8221;</p><p>Flora had a different take.</p><p>&#8220;There were a lot of legal issues in this case and the legal instructions were too complex to understand,&#8221; the defense lawyer said. &#8220;As soon as the jury heard the confession, that is extremely difficult to get around. Even the law requires them not to consider the confession until they are first satisfied a crime has been committed.&#8221;</p><p>Flora told jurors during closing arguments the confession was not to be considered because there was no physical evidence tying Dula to the assaults.</p><p>&#8220;The &#8230; confession was the controlling factor. And how you set that out of their minds, that&#8217;s a very hard thing for anybody to do. The law requires them to but sometimes people just can&#8217;t do it.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s a very good chance the appellate court will reverse,&#8221; Flora noted.</p><p><strong>Bail revoked</strong></p><p>Violi, a prosecutor for nearly 20 years, said the trial was difficult because the victim is unable to speak.</p><p>But authorities pointed to other issues, such as Dula repeatedly changing the woman&#8217;s diaper even when it was dry, and the woman acting extremely distressed when Dula entered her room.</p><p>&#8220;It was definitely a complicated case with complicated issues,&#8221; Violi explained. &#8220;It&#8217;s not every day you have a case where you have a victim that can&#8217;t talk or tell anybody what happened. That is obviously a big hurdle in a case. It took a lot of extra work to get over that hurdle.&#8221;</p><p>Dula was convicted on charges of criminal attempt to commit involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, criminal attempt to commit sexual assault, aggravated indecent assault without consent, aggravated indecent assault upon a person who suffers mental disorder, institutional sexual assault, indecent assault with a person with mental disability, indecent assault without consent and indecent exposure.</p><p>Dula, who was free, was sent to jail when Lupas revoked his bail.</p><p>Lupas ordered a Megan&#8217;s Law assessment and scheduled Dula to be sentenced May 9.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Andrew Dula, of Shickshinny, is escorted from the Luzerne County Courthouse after a jury convicted him Thursday of sexually assaulting a mentally disabled woman while he served as her caregiver. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_Andrew-Dula-2-02142019.jpg</photo0><caption0>Andrew Dula, of Shickshinny, is escorted from the Luzerne County Courthouse after a jury convicted him Thursday of sexually assaulting a mentally disabled woman while he served as her caregiver. </caption0><photoCredit0>Ed Lewis | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_web1_dula-cmyk-3-8.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Dula </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_web1_dula-cmyk-3-8.jpg</photo1><caption1>Dula </caption1><photoCredit1>Ed Lewis | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Ed Lewis</p><p>elewis@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta></shirttailMeta></div>

Shickshinny man found guilty on all counts for sexually abusing disabled woman