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Man avoids prison term in Manchester date rape case

Journal Inquirer - 1/7/2022

Jan. 7—A man who was accused of raping and assaulting a woman while preventing her from leaving his Manchester apartment in November 2020 accepted a plea bargain this week in which he was convicted of three misdemeanors and received a sentence without immediate prison time.

William Maurice Walsh, who is in his mid-20s and has listed his address as a Slater Street apartment, pleaded no contest in Hartford Superior Court to fourth-degree sexual assault, third-degree assault, and second-degree unlawful restraint in the incident, which occurred on Nov. 14, 2020, records show.

He was put on probation for three years, with the possibility of almost three years in prison if he violates release conditions, according to his lawyer, Gerald M. Klein.

Walsh, who has no previous criminal conviction, won't be required to register as a sex offender, Klein added.

In a separate case involving a different woman, Walsh pleaded no contest to a third-degree assault that occurred in Manchester on May 29, 2020, and received a lesser concurrent sentence, according to Klein.

Walsh was free on $55,000 bond while the cases were pending.

His no-contest pleas in the two cases don't represent admissions of guilt and can't be used against him in related civil lawsuits. Checks today of online state and federal court records in Connecticut showed no suit pending against him.

In the November 2020 incident, Walsh originally faced felony charges that included first-degree sexual assault, under a provision dealing with forcible rape. The fourth-degree sexual assault that Walsh was convicted of involves having sexual contact with a person without the person's consent. It differs from forcible rape in that it doesn't require the use or threat of force and doesn't require an act the law defines as intercourse.

An affidavit by Manchester police Officer Jeremy Curtis contains the following information on the November 2020 incident, which the woman reported to police two days after it happened:

She said she had met Walsh via the dating app Tinder in the first week in September 2020 and they "immediately clicked and started hanging out more frequently," usually at his apartment. But by October, they began having conflicts over his suspicions that she was interested in other men.

After a Nov. 14 phone conversation lasting at least three hours, the woman went to Walsh's apartment in the evening to talk more.

She said he grew angry, frightening her. She said she told him she was going to leave, to which he replied, "No you're not."

She said he kept telling her they were going to have sex and she kept telling him she didn't want to. But as he became increasingly agitated, she grew afraid and reluctantly had sex with him out of fear of what might happen if she didn't.

In a subsequent interview, conducted after a judge asked for clarification about the woman's fear, she said Walsh had previously exhibited explosive behavior toward her that had led to him threatening and pushing her. She said he is "a lot bigger" than she is and was refusing to let her leave, adding that she didn't believe she could physically overtake him to leave the apartment.

She added that he didn't seem to be himself and had a "crazed and angry" look.

For updates on Glastonbury, and recent crime and courts coverage in North-Central Connecticut, follow Alex Wood on Twitter: @AlexWoodJI1, Facebook: Alex Wood, and Instagram: @AlexWoodJI.

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