Man Jailed On Rape Charges Makes Unusual Trial Reque

Outrage follows an unusual request by a man charged with raping a 13-year-old girl.

Prosecutors told NBC 10's investigative reporter, Harry Hairston, they cannot believe what the suspect's attorney wants to bring into the courtroom.

First, a warning that the story you are about to read is mature in nature.

It's about a local attorney's request to prove his client's innocence.

But as unusual as the request is, he said it's critical to his client's defense.

"This defendant is physically a very large man. He's very tall; he's very big," defense attorney Marvin Gold said.

Ronald McDade was charged with raping a 13-year-old Lansdale girl in January.

But Gold said there is no way his client could have done it.

Gold said doctors who performed a rape kit on the 13-year-old found no injury to areas of her genitalia.

And based on what Gold said he learned about McDade, there should have been injuries.

"It started out when I interviewed people who knew my client on a personal basis who said that I should know that he was absolutely unusually, almost a freak of nature," Gold said.

So Gold wants a judge to allow McDade to make a plastic casting of his private parts.

"Since we can't show that to the jury in a courtroom without great embarrassment, the next best way to do it is to have a casting absolutely life size," Gold said.

"This clearly is just to create a diversion or a sideshow or make the courtroom more like a circus atmosphere," Todd Stephens, of the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office, said.

Prosecutors objecting to the request said they have never heard of anything like this before.

"We are not here to shock people or anything like that. This isn't Hollywood; this is a courtroom," Stephens said.

"This is a scientific question. We are looking for the truth. Could this body part had fit inside that body part without significant injury?" Gold said.

"I'd be anxious to see an expert report from someone in the science field to tell us that it's somehow relevant to this case," Stephens said.

But what prosecutors said is relevant to the case is McDade's background.

Court records show that McDade has a history of sexual-related offenses.

But despite that past, Gold insisted his request is critical to his client's defense.

"What they are saying is that we can't give a defendant who's facing essentially life in prison 20 minutes, 10 minute of privacy within the prison during which he would prepare a scientific exhibit which could be accurate evidence of his innocence or guilt," Gold said.

A judge still has yet to determine if he will allow the request.

McDade remains in jail with bail.

Contact Us