Plea deal ends trial

BY STACI WILSON

As the trial for a Montrose man accused of raping a 15-year-old girl was about to begin in Susquehanna County Court Tuesday morning, a plea agreement was reached between the prosecution and defense.

Bryan Nye, 40, met with his defense team and a family member prior to the court proceedings being moved from the main courtroom – out of view from the jury room.

After reconvening in the small courtroom, Nye pleaded guilty to rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, and aggravated indecent assault in connection with incidents that occurred Jan. 2009-Feb. 2010.

Nye also pleaded guilty to flight to avoid apprehension or prosecution. A charge added by District Attorney Jason Legg after Nye rescinded guilty pleas he had entered in the sexual assault case in May 2011.

After a warrant was issued for his arrest, Nye eluded capture by law enforcement for over four months before turning himself in to authorities in July 2010.

Following the pleas made in May 2011, the sexual offender assessment hearing board determined Nye was a sexually violent predator.

He stipulated to that finding in court Tuesday prior to being sentenced by President Judge Kenneth Seamans.

As part of the negotiated sentence, Nye will serve a total of five and one-half to 13 years, followed by 15 years probation on all the counts.

Nye was on probation at the time of the incidents. That probation was revoked and he will serve out the remainder of that prison term – which is up in July – before beginning to serve the latest sentences.

The victim, who had been prepared to testify in the case, took the stand and addressed Nye prior to his sentence being handed down by the judge.

“What you did to me… is wrong,” she said. “You took my innocence.”

But, she told the court, she has been made a stronger person because of it. “I will continue to go through this world as an adult, as a good person, and I will be a better person because of it,” she said.

“I don’t understand why you did what you did and how you can live with yourself,” she said to Nye.

The Susquehanna County Independent does not identify the victims of sexual assault.

Legg said that over the course of the case he had spoken with the victim on several occasions and told the court she “has grown tremendously as a person” in that time and that the pleas provided a sense of “closure” for the victim.

He also said the victim had been consulted about the negotiated plea and had agreed with the resolution of the case.

Legg said the sentence provided for incarceration followed by a long period of supervision which would provide for the safety of the community.

“I hope Mr. Nye addresses the demons that caused him to do this,” Legg said.

Before the plea agreement was reached, Nye’s attorneys, Mark Powell, ofScranton, and Thomas Pavlinic, ofAnnapolis,Md., introduced a motion requesting a new jury be selected to hear the case.

Seven of the jurors selected to hear the Nye case sat as jurors or alternates in a similar sexual assault trial held last week in Susquehanna County Court. The jury was dismissed following the resolution of the case.