Jan 12, 2015 5 min read

A Washington County jury is being asked to decide if a Monongahela man should be convicted of rape and a raft of related charges or if an encounter with his ex-girlfriend was simply consensual sex.

John D. Yocolano II, 33, went on trial Monday and the jury heard from just one witness, the ex-girlfriend, now 23. Because of inclement weather and time constraints, her afternoon of testimony stopped just short of her recounting the events of Dec. 6, 2012, at the apartment they had shared off and on for about two years.

The couple met through a relative when Yocolano was 28, earning wages as a union painter, and she was nine to 10 years younger.

She described Yocolano rescuing her when she was left stranded on a roadside.

“I looked at him like my knight in shining armor,” she told the jury. Attempting to cope with her own broken home, she saw in Yocolano a chance to achieve what she described as “a normal life” and “a wonderful person who could make all my dreams come true.”

Yocolano, the ex-girlfriend said, then became manipulative, trying to control her appearance and with whom she associated. She described a pattern of him flying into a rage, shoving and pushing her and then apologizing to her, using the term “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” to characterize his personality.

The couple broke up during summer 2011 before the woman, who had just turned 20, discovered she was pregnant with Yocolano’s child. They reconciled and rented a second-floor apartment on Second Street in Monongahela. The expectant mother hoped the birth of their son would improve the couple’s relationship, but that turned out not to be the case.

“My heart overcame my head,” she testified.

In March 2011, she said Yocolano threatened her with a machete. She then picked up the weapon and pointed it at the defendant as she backed out the door, causing Yocolano to call police. No charges resulted from that incident. Their child was born in May 2012. The couple had a series of arguments, and the victim reported abuse to police in Donora and Monongahela. She obtained a temporary protection-from-abuse order from Washington County Court, and moved back to her father’s home, but he disapproved of her on-again, off-again relationship with Yocolano.

Another time, after just having wisdom teeth extracted, the victim said Yocolano locked her out of the apartment on Second Street, and she called police. A few days later, she again summoned police, testifying she feared Yocolano was going to either steer his car from a bridge or leap into the Monongahela River.

A short time after that, she said she was surprised when Yocolano purchased an engagement ring for her. It was around that time friends noticed marks on her arm, which she told the jury Yocolano had caused.

She then described an attack in an attic room at the Second Street apartment, testifying Yocolano pummeled her head and stomach. It was a room where the couple kept caged pet snakes, and she hid in a closet rather than confront Yocolano, whom she said was angry that she was spending more time with their baby than with him. She said Yocolano threatened to harm her father and grandparents.

Assistant District Attorney Kristin Clingerman elicited testimony that Yocolano offered to withdraw his case to gain custody of his son if she would withdraw her protection petition, which she did just hours before the alleged rape in the apartment they had shared.

In court documents related to the termination of the restraining order, she noted she and Yocolano were attending counseling sessions and that he was attempting to control his rages through anger management.

“We just want to work it out for our son’s sake. I am no longer afraid of him,” she wrote. She and Yocolano exchanged text messages about her trip to the courthouse.

At that point, testimony ended for the day. Judge John DiSalle adjourned the proceeding until 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, telling the jury, evenly split between men and women, that there may be evening sessions so the case can be wrapped up this week.

In opening statements Monday morning, the jury heard vastly different perspectives on what occurred on the day in question and during the couple’s relationship.

Yocolano’s attorney, Neil Marcus, said the sexual contact was consensual and the woman leveled the accusations against Yocolano “to get the upper hand in a custody dispute.”

“My client never held her against her will,” Marcus told the jury.

Later, in open court without the jury present, DiSalle cautioned Marcus, “We’re not going to have a custody trial.” The judge had Yocolano placed under oath and questioned him about the protection-from-abuse order the victim sought in Washington County Court to ascertain that he and his attorney had discussed the legal ramifications of this evidence.

Yocolano has been free on bond since shortly after charges were filed.