Jury selected in rape case

WILKES-BARRE – A Luzerne County jury was selected Monday to hear the six-year-old case of a man charged with raping a woman outside a city tavern.

A jury of 10 men and four women, which includes two alternates, was chosen to hear the case of Daryl Boich, 44, of Church Road, Mountain Top, who faces charges of rape and involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and two counts of sexual assault during this week’s trial.

The case had been delayed a number of years because of appeals in both the state Superior and Supreme courts regarding a psychiatric examination of the victim in the case.

Boich’s former attorney, Al Flora, had sought an examination of the woman Boich is charged with raping, after she testified at a preliminary hearing she could not recall various details of her activities on the night of the alleged assault.

Flora argued the testing was needed to determine if she was competent to testify.

The District Attorney’s Office opposed the testing, arguing it was a thinly veiled attempt to attack the woman’s credibility. State law precludes the introduction of expert testimony regarding a person’s credibility.

Both high courts decided not to hear an appeal, making way for this week’s trial.

Assistant District Attorney Nancy Violi is prosecuting the case. Boich is represented by attorney Todd Henry.

According to court papers, on Oct. 14, 2005, the woman told police that Boich forced her to perform a sex act before raping her in the parking lot of the former Murray’s Inn in Wilkes-Barre.

Police said Boich met the woman at the bar and promised to give her a ride home.

Instead, police said, Boich drove her around to the rear of the South Pennsylvania Avenue building and kissed her.

The woman said she wanted to leave, but Boich drove to a more secluded area and forced her to perform oral sex on him.

After indicating she didn’t want to do that, the woman told police, Boich forced here to perform the act, and then opened his car door, pulled the woman outside and raped her.

The woman said she then got back into Boich’s vehicle and took a call from one of her friends trying to find her. The woman said she didn’t know where she was and Boich slapped her.

The woman said she left the car and walked around until she found one of her friends. She was treated at a local hospital, court papers say.

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