Jury seated in retrial of Allegheny Township man accused of multiple rapes

A Westmoreland County jury was seated Monday to hear evidence in the retrial of an Allegheny Township man accused of the rape and sexual assault of six women.

Prosecutors claim Eric Wright, 50, was a serial rapist who committed crimes for nearly two decades.

Originally charged with more than 50 offenses, prosecutors last fall submitted to jurors six different criminal cases consolidated into 24 counts. Following a weeklong trial last September, jurors deliberated 14 hours over two days and were unable to reach verdicts on all the charges: four counts each of rape and sexual assault, eight counts of indecent assault and other related offenses. The deadlocked jury resulted in Common Pleas Court Judge Meagan Bilik-DeFazio declaring a mistrial.

Opening statements in Wright’s retrial will begin Tuesday morning.

Allegations were first raised against Wright in 2019 when he was accused of sexual offenses by a teenage girl, two women who said they were sexually assaulted as teens and three other women. The Tribune-Review does not identify alleged sex crime victims.

Wright was one of two defense witnesses who testified during the first trial and he denied the allegations. He claimed his accusers made up the allegations and denied having any improper contact with any of them. He suggested they colluded as part of a plot to seek a portion of a $350,000 civil court settlement he received in 2019 and 2020 for injuries he sustained after he was attacked by a dog.

Wright, who has been in jail since his arrest in 2020, has a new lawyer for his second trial.