New Trial in Old Rape Case

A man who was convicted 20 years ago of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl in his Edgartown home, then served a prison sentence and, several years after his release, won a new trial, yesterday pleaded guilty in Dukes County superior court to an assault and battery charge.

In a plea reached with prosecutors, Chad M. Edward had two sex charges dismissed and a third charge reduced from indecent assault and battery on a person 14 or older, to the assault and battery charge. Mr. Edward was placed on a year’s probation and ordered to have no contact with the victim.

His legal odyssey began in August 1990, when the girl agreed to babysit at Mr. Edward’s house. She told police she stayed overnight because it was too late to take home the Chappaquiddick ferry and was attacked. Mr. Edward, then 35, was convicted of the attack on the girl following a jury trial in October 1991.

In court yesterday before the Hon. Cornelius J. Moriarty 2nd, the victim, now in her mid-30s and closely consulted about the plea deal, delivered an emotional statement about how the case had affected her life. “It was one of the most compelling and impassioned victim statements I’ve heard in 25 years,” said Cape and Islands assistant district attorney Laura Marshard.

Because of the age of the case and the fact Mr. Edward already served time on the original conviction, it’s unlikely he would have received any more prison time had he been convicted a second time.