Jury deliberations began Friday in the trial of Bradley Asbury, 70, a former state employee who stands accused of acting as an accomplice in the rape of a 14-year-old boy at the state’s juvenile jail – then known as the Youth Development Center (YDC) – in the late 1990s.
In closing arguments, defense attorney David Rothstein quoted William Shakespeare, comparing the repeated assertions by Asbury’s accuser Michael Gilpatrick that he was raped at YDC to the famous line from “Hamlet:” “The lady doth protest too much, methinks.”
“You can say ‘he did it’ over and over and over again,” said Rothstein. “Ten times, 50 times, 100 times – but repeating it does not make it true.”
Rothstein argued the layout of the YDC cottage where the rape allegedly occurred would have made it impossible for no one else to have seen or heard the assault as it happened. Gilpatrick says Asbury and another staffer held him down while two others sexually assaulted him on the landing of a stairwell at East Cottage, where Asbury worked as the house leader.
He also accused Gilpatrick of fabricating the allegations for money. Gilpatrick is seeking money damages from the state in an ongoing civil lawsuit set for trial next year.
In the state’s closing argument, Assistant Attorney General Adam Woods told the jury: “The truth in Mike’s words was evident. Those men raped Mike. And this man helped,” he said, referring to Asbury.
“These four grown men, including the defendant, shattered the trust that they should’ve held from Mike,” said Woods. He added, “Mike learned quickly after he was raped on those stairs, those men weren’t to be trusted, the defendant was not to be trusted. He was to be feared, because it was his house.”
Woods also argued YDC records showing the four men accused of taking part in the rape all working at the cottage that day corroborated Gilpatrick’s allegations.
Woods said Gilpatrick did not tell anyone about the assault at the time for fear of Asbury.
Asbury’s accuser, Michael Gilpatrick, now 41, has been outspoken about the abuse he says he suffered as a child at YDC. Earlier this year, he testified in connection with the landmark civil lawsuit against the state over abuse at YDC brought by David Meehan.
Gilpatrick has also filed his own lawsuit against the state seeking money damages, which is set for trial early in 2025. He is one of more than 1,000 people who have filed lawsuits in recent years claiming abuse at YDC and other state-run or state-contracted facilities. The state has so far agreed to pay out more than $100 million in settlements.
Rothstein made Gilpatrick’s lawsuit a key part of his defense, arguing that Gilpatrick’s allegations were false and motivated by money. On the second day of trial, Rothstein aggressively cross-examined Gilpatrick, leading to a tense exchange where Rothstein asked Gilpatrick to repeat his allegations against Asbury multiple times in a row, and Gilpatrick called Rothstein a “sick man.”
The charges against Asbury stem from a wide-ranging criminal investigation into YDC launched by the state five years ago. The staffers Asbury is alleged to have aided in raping Gilpatrick all face their own upcoming criminal trials. While 11 former state employees were originally charged, three cases have been dismissed; the first case to go to trial ended in a hung jury in September. During a hearing in March, state prosecutors acknowledged the criminal investigation was winding down, even as more alleged victims continued to come forward.
Some alleged YDC victims don’t trust the state to investigate itself and continue to call for a federal investigation.
