Former Pirates pitcher's appeal of sex conviction rejected by Westmoreland judge

The conviction of former Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Felipe Vazquez, who was found guilty last year in the sexual assault of a 13-year-old Scottdale girl, will stand — according to a ruling from a Westmoreland County judge.

Common Pleas Judge Scott Mears, in a 78-page opinion, ruled evidence presented during a four-day trial in May is sufficient to support convictions on 15 offenses in connection with a sexual relationship Vazquez had with the teen beginning in 2017 that lasted for nearly two years. The former All-Star relief pitcher was found not guilty of an additional 10 offenses of unlawful contact with a minor.

Police said the 30-year-old Venezuela native had a two-year relationship with the girl, whom he met through text messages. Their relationship became increasingly sexual in nature, including the sharing of explicit photographs and one in-person sexual encounter. Investigators said Vazquez, during the summer of 2017, drove to the teen’s home, while her parents were out of town, and engaged in sexual activity inside his sports car.

Vazquez contended at trial he believed the girl was an adult and that she lied about her age.

The verdict and subsequent 2- to 4-year prison sentence he received essentially ended Vazquez’s baseball career.

He is incarcerated at SCI-Camp Hill and is awaiting extradition to Florida, where he is accused of having improper sexual communications with the same teen after she moved from Pennsylvania. Missouri officials also charged Vazquez with crimes, alleging he and the girl exchanged sexually explicit text messages while he was pitching for the Pirates in St. Louis.

In his ruling, Mears wrote Westmoreland County jurors had enough evidence to convict Vazquez and questioned his credibility at trial.

“While the victim certainly admitted having lied to the defendant and to her family in the past, she was believable at trial. On the other hand, there were numerous instances of the defendant lying in court and to the government,” Mears wrote.

Lawyers for Vazquez challenged the judge’s decisions on several pretrial rulings and argued he mishandled multiple issues that arose during the trial, including one instance that occurred in front of jurors.

Vazquez contends Mears should not have directed him to demonstrate to jurors how his accuser walked to his car before the sexual encounter. During questioning from Assistant District Attorney Jim Lazar, Vazquez described the teen’s gait as one that resembled a model and was “saucy.” At Lazar’s request, Mears directed Vazquez to demonstrate to jurors how she walked and in doing so swiveled his hips to simulate her appearance that day.

Defense lawyers did not object to the demonstration during the trial. In his opinion, the judge suggested the demonstration was a defense tactic to illicit sympathy from jurors in response to “heavy-handed” cross examination from the prosecutor.

“Against that backdrop, defense counsel made the decision not to object, apparently so that those impressions would be reinforced for the jury. Defense counsel determined at that point that the probative value of the testimony outweighed any prejudice and it would not have been this court’s place to second guess that reasonable decision,” Mears wrote.