Gang Rape Trial

A Superior Court jury has begun deliberations in the case of a 28-year-old man accused of taking part in the gang rape of a 14-year-old girl in a local motel. The panel Tuesday afternoon began considering the charges against Shawn L. Holmes, who along with his cousin and two other men, are charged with driving two 14-year-old girls from Bridgeport to the Milford Motel on the Boston Post Road on April 16, 1997. One of the girls claimed Holmes raped her and while two others held her down, then another man raped her while Holmes and another man held her legs. The prosecution argued thata 14-year-old girl would never "dream" of making up such a story or endure a two-hour medical probe, to help collect evidence in rape cases, if she were not telling the truth. Defense attorney Vito Castignoli claimed the girl made up the story to avoid being punished by her parents for arriving home past her curfew on a school night. State's Attorney Kevin Lawlor told the jury that at the motel, all four men were smoking marijuana, drinking and watching pornographic movies before they sexually assaulted the victim using condoms.