The defense attorney for the Valley tow truck driver charged with drugging then sexually abusing several former employees came prepared Monday afternoon with props and metaphors for his opening argument.
Justin J. McShane, who is representing Mark Ethan McFall, began with a picture of Albert Einstein and asked jurors to be scientific in reaching their decision about his client. Then he emptied a bag of puzzle pieces onto the defense table and reminded the jury to look at the big picture.
And toward the end of his presentation — after showing a photo of the Rat Pack and another of himself as a child posing with his father and brother — McShane projected a shot of Gossamer — a hairy, red cartoon creature from the Looney Toons series — onto a screen set up in the middle of Common Pleas Judge Phyllis R. Streitel’s courtroom.
“Mark McFall is not a monster,” McShane said.
McFall, 43, is charged with rape, multiple counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, sexual assault and unauthorized administration of an intoxicant, and related offenses. According to police, the defendant reportedly doled out powerful medications to unsuspecting employees working for him at McFall’s Towing in the 1100 block of West Lincoln Highway. Then, while the men were unconscious, he allegedly undressed and molested them.
McShane suggested the incidents were consensual and the alleged victims were motivated to contact authorities because of what he said were grudges against McFall.
“He’s a human being,” McShane said about the defendant. “He’s a man, and he’s bisexual. None of those three is against the law.”
In his opening statement, Chief Deputy District Attorney Robert L. Miller said each of the three men allegedly assaulted in Chester County will testify during the trial. A fourth man, reportedly molested during a trip to Brigantine, N.J., by the defendant, also is expected to testify for the prosecution.
“We finally are going to shine the light of sunshine on the acts of Mark McFall and what he has been doing to people,” Miller said.
The rape charge stems from a reported incident involving a 19-year-old employee in November 2005 that led to McFall’s first arrest, police said. The man told police McFall had given him a pill after he complained about feeling ill. After taking the drug, the victim allegedly lost consciousness then awoke to find himself sprawled naked across a four-wheel ATV with McFall molesting him, Miller said.
The encounter prompted investigators to search McFall’s business and seize more than 100 bottles of pills, digital nude photographs of the 19-year-old victim and floppy disks containing video footage of the defendant allegedly assaulting another victim, police said.
The attorneys and the judge spent most of Monday selecting 12 jurors and two alternates who will listen to the case. Streitel made quick use of one alternate member after dismissing juror No. 7, a man, before the rest of the jury was sworn in.
The judge said she is wary about media attention the case will get this week, and she warned the jurors at length about avoiding any news reports about the case.
“This is really a good week to read a book, is what I’m saying,” Streitel said.
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