Judge Declares Mistrial In Pieri Molestation Case

LAS CRUCES, NM – A judge has declared a mistrial in the case of a Dona Ana County man accused of raping and prostituting an underage family member.

Craig Pieri is accused of raping a nine year old relative back in 2004 and was facinga total of 17 counts. Pieri could have faced up to 225 years in jail if convicted.

Several key witnesses of the prosecution were not able to be transported from jail to the courtroom. One of the witnesses was Pieri’s wife, Marylin Pieri. District Judge Stephen Bridgforth issued the ruling Wednesday.

The girl, now 12, described every detail vividly through taped testimony Tuesday. It lasted about an hour and detailed an alleged exchange of money between Pieri and another man in return for sex with the girl.

“On occasion the defendant would sometimes tie her up in a chair with a rope or tape and he would touch her…she talks about how the defendant would touch her chest or breast..ladies and gentlemen, it was not a dream that was happening to Mr Pieri, he was committing those sexual acts on her,” stated Amy Orlando, the prosecutor on the case.

The prosecution used the graphic details as a strength. The defense went after the accuser’s testimony, saying there were many holes in her story. “Keep atune to the burden of truth, the state will say it happened in this time frame…they have got to be more specific than that,” stated the defense attorney.

The defense asked for a mistrial because of the absence of the prosecution’switnesses and the judge felt he had to grant it. “I am finding that manifest necessity requires that the court grant a mistrial. The court believes that the defendant is entitled to the presence of those witnesses,” stated Bridgforth.

Pieri served previous time for rape 20 years ago. His wife already pleaded guilty and is serving four and a half years for failure to report child abuse.

The judge tells ABC-7 he plans to schedule another trial as soon as possible.