A former Rindge man convicted of sexual assault of a child is appealing the state Supreme Court for a new trial.
Last Thursday, the court heard arguments from the state and an attorney for Jason A. Czekalski, who is serving a 30-to-60-year sentence after a jury found him guilty of molesting an 11-year-old girl in a 2014 trial in Cheshire County Superior Court.
Czekalski’s attorney, Thomas Barnard, wouldn’t comment on the case, directing any questions to the briefs filed with the court. Barnard did say a decision on a new trial could come within a few months.
In an August brief, Barnard challenged a January 2013 recording of a phone conversation between the victim and Czekalski, where Czekalski admitted to touching and “digitally” penetrating the victim. Barnard said the evidence obtained from the recording was “prejudicial” and that the police used the recording to influence Czekalski into making incriminating statements, according to the brief.
Barnard also said the court made a mistake when it denied a third motion to suppress the recording and said the state should have taken steps to ensure the recording could not have been edited or altered.
Czekalski’s former attorney, James O’Rourke of Henniker’s O’Rourke Law Office, filed three separate motions during the jury trial to suppress the recording and each was denied – the latter after Czekalski made the same argument.
In March, Czekalski asked the Cheshire County Superior Court for a new trial, saying O’Rouke provided ineffective assistance. That request was denied, though Czekalski did succeed in getting one of his charges dropped and his minimum sentenced reduced by 10 years, after he successfully argued that one of the four felonious sexual assault convictions constituted double jeopardy.
Czekalski, who is currently in New Hampshire State Prison for Men with a May 2, 2023 release date, has filed several appeals since his 2014 conviction.
In an October brief filed by Czekalski, who has maintained his innocence, he says the court must reverse his convictions because:
— the wording of the indictments was “defective.” (Czekalski says at the time of the incident, the state’s sexual assault law did not contain language about touching “…directly, through clothing, or otherwise.”)
— he should have been granted an extension after he was moved from Cheshire County House of Corrections to the State Prison 25 days before his jury trial. (Czekalski says he didn’t have access to a telephone, paper, writing utensils or consistent access to pain and psychiatric medications. He also said his attorney wasn’t notified of his transfer.)
— the court allowed a juror who did not file a questionnaire form. (Czekalski says the juror was seated without any notice, denying him the “right to an impartial jury.”)
The state attorney general’s office summarily dismissed Czekalski’s claims, according to documents, adding that the juror was properly vetted and approved by Czekalski’s lawyer.
“When questioned as part of the panel, the juror expressed no reservations about serving and the defendant has alleged no prejudice as the result of her service,” said the attorney general’s office in a Dec. 9 brief.
Czekalski, who moved to Rindge with his family in 1990, had his law license suspended by the state Supreme Court in January of 2013. His LinkedIn page says he graduated from the Massachusetts School of Law with a J.D. in land use, planning and local government.
In 2013, Czekalski’s son, Luke Czekalski, was convicted in 2013 of assaulting a 6-year-old girl in Jaffrey. In that trial, Czekalski petitioned the court to release a report from psychologist Dr. Philip J. Kinsler, who testified that Luke Czekalski said Czekalski verbally and psychologically abused him and also told Kinsler he may have been sexually abused.
Czekalski claimed in court filings that information in Kinsler’s report could have prejudiced Judge John Kissinger, who presided over Czekalski’s trial a few months later.
Tony Marquis can be reached at 924-7172, ext. 225 or tmarquis@ledgertranscript.com. He is also on Twitter @tmarquisMLT.