Alex Kelly Rape Trials: 1996-97

Kelly's flight was an expensive decision for his parents, who forfeited a $200,000 bond they had posted for him. They also funneled money to their fugitive son during the next eight years, which he spent skiing and hang-gliding at expensive resorts. In January 1995, Kelly surrendered to Swiss authorities, saying that he wanted to put the accusations in front of a jury to clear his name. Prosecutors believed instead that he knew he was finally about to be arrested.

Although the original sexual assault and kidnapping charges against Kelly remained unchanged, the courts now agreed to weigh the two alleged incidents in separate trials. Jury selection in the Darien case began on October 1, 1996. When testimony began two weeks later, Adrienne Bak Ortolano (she had married after high school) recalled the night she accepted a ride from Kelly. She had reluctantly accepted his repeated offers in order to be home before an 11 P.M. curfew imposed by her parents. Kelly, she said, drove past her house to a dark dead end and pushed her into the back of the Jeep, choking her with both hands. Ortolano tearfully described how the amateur wrestler pinned her in the back of the vehicle and threatened to kill her if she did not stop screaming. After raping her, Kelly drove the bleeding girl home, repeatedly saying he would kill her if she revealed what he had done.

Alex Kelly is led out of court. (AP/Wide World Photos)

Kelly's attorney, Thomas Puccio, aggressively cross-examined Ortolano, trying to portray her as a willing sexual partner. Puccio stressed that Ortolano had been drinking at the party and implied that she had not resisted Kelly's advances. She repeatedly denied Puccio's insinuations that she had flirted with Kelly. She also protested that she was not drunk, which was corroborated by other partygoers in testimony for the prosecution.

When police officers to whom Ortolano reported the alleged rape took the stand, Puccio asked why they had taken no photographs of her injuries. The police responded that her distraught emotional state made them decide against it. Gynecologist Marilyn Kessler introduced a visible representation of her injuries. Dr. Kessler had not conducted an internal examination at the time of the incident. Consequently, Judge Martin Nigro ruled that Dr. Kessler would not be allowed to testify that a rape had occurred. Yet Kessler did describe the teenager's injuries in detail and offered a medical illustration drawn from her report on the girl's physical condition, infuriating Puccio and his client.