人兽性交

The 24-year-old Martville man appeared Thursday morning in Cayuga County Court to be arraigned for a charge accusing him of violating the terms of his probation by getting arrested for rape a few years after his prior conviction for subjecting a child under the age of 11 to sexual contact in 2007.

According to Judge Thomas Leone, O'Connor was previously adjudicated as a youthful offender in Oswego County for first-degree sexual abuse.

Then, on May 28, he was arrested in Sterling and charged with felony third-degree rape, allegedly violating the terms of his probation.

Assistant District Attorney Heather DeStefano asked Leone to remand O'Connor into custody.

Along with getting arrested for allegedly committing his second sexual offense, DeStefano said O'Connor, of 13689 Queens Farm Road, refused to waive appearing at any preliminary hearings. Not wanting to force the alleged child victim to testify, DeStefano waived the hearing.

"In these types of cases, I generally do not negotiate," she said.

Timothy Brennan, O'Connor's defense attorney, said the court should not weigh his client's choice to exercise his constitutional right to a preliminary hearing when setting bail.

"I don't think that should be a factor," he said.

After reading files regarding O'Connor's history and the current case lodged against him, Leone opted to remand the defendant into the custody of the Cayuga County Jail.

"I'm certainly not penalizing Mr. O'Connor for exercising his constitutional right," the judge said. "But as I read this, I'm going to remand Mr. O'Connor."

As the defendant was led out of the courtroom and into custody, Leone told Brennan he could make an application to set bail for O'Connor during future court appearances.

DeStefano said she planned to present O'Connor's case to a grand jury.