Sexual assault trial of former Pirates' pitcher set for May

The sexual assault and child pornography cases against suspended Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Felipe Vazquez will be conducted May.

Westmoreland County Judge Scott Mears, following a hearing Monday afternoon, ordered jury selection in the case to begin May 14 and for testimony in the trial to start on May 17.

“Given that Mr. Vazquez has been in jail since September 2019, it’s important we get ready for trial as soon as possible,” Mears said.

Vazquez, 29, is charged with statutory sexual assault, indecent assault of someone under age 16, corruption of a minor and unlawful contact with a minor in connection with what police contend was a sexual relationship with a then 13-year-old girl in 2017 in Scottdale. He also is charged in a separate case with 10 counts of child pornography, 11 offenses of unlawful contact with a minor and one charge of corruption of a minor in which police contend he and his child victim exchanged sexually explicit pictures and text messages.

Vazquez has denied guilt.

He has been held at Westmoreland County Prison without bond since Sept. 17, 2019.

The trial is expected to take about a week to complete, according to Assistant District Attorney Jim Lazar.

This year, Mears denied defense requests to bar evidence police obtained during an interview with Vazquez and a search of his Strip District home in Pittsburgh before his arrest.

A second defense motion seeking dismissal of 11 counts of unlawful contact with a minor over jurisdictional grounds is still pending. Defense attorney Gary Gerson in court documents contended those alleged offenses would have occurred when Vazquez was out of town and pitching for the Pirates, not while he was in Pennsylvania and, as a result, cannot be locally prosecuted.

Mears said Monday he will hear arguments in court on March 26 on the jurisdictional issue.

The defense also is seeking to have two separate trials for Vazquez, one specifically to address the sexual assault allegations and another on any pending pornography-related charges. Mears said he will rule on that issue following the March 26 hearing.

In addition to the charges in Pennsylvania, police in Florida charged Vazquez with similar offenses in connection with allegations the pitcher had a sexual relationship with the same girl after she moved to Florida.

Police in Missouri also charged Vazquez last year with pornography offenses in which investigators said he and the same teen exchanged sexually explicit messages when the the pitcher was playing for the Pirates in St. Louis in 2019. Both the Florida and Missouri cases are pending.