Szlosek was serving a state prison sentence for an assault and battery in a Chicopee case.
SPRINGFIELD – A defense lawyer argued that a woman wanted Michael Szlosek to have sex with her while her hands were restrained by plastic grip ties, and that she was a willing participant in a series of acts which left her injured.
Hampden Superior Court Judge Constance M. Sweeney did not agree – and since the 44-year-old Szlosek had opted for a jury-waived trial – it was Sweeney’s job alone to pronounce a verdict.
By late Tuesday afternoon Szlosek was sentenced to 25 to 30 years in state prison after Sweeney found him guilty of kidnapping, three counts of aggravated rape, two counts of indecent assault and battery and four counts of assault and battery.
Szlosek, of Holland, was convicted in a Dec. 29, 2009, attack on the woman in Holland.
Defense lawyer William T. Walsh Jr. argued that the victim had written to Szlosek when Szlosek was in state prison, and had initiated contact with him and wanted to have a relationship with him when he got out.
The victim testified she was on a website called “The Big House Crew, Support Hells Angels” and saw a picture of Szlosek, who she said he had met before years ago, and wrote to him.
“This woman was seeking out someone like my client,” Walsh said.
Assistant District Attorney Jane E. Mulqueen said in her opening statement and closing argument, “Every person has the right to say no. She told you she said no and the defendant didn’t listen.”
The woman testified she allowed Szlosek to come into her home Dec. 29, 2009, to talk, but he grabbed her by her throat, dragged her into the bedroom, threw her on the bed and bound her hands with grip ties to the bed.
She said Szlosek bit her hard a number of times, and choked her neck, then raped her in different, painful, ways.
Sweeney had been given pictures taken by a detective when the woman went to the hospital later on the day of the incident.
Those included pictures of marks and swelling around the woman’s neck, bites to different parts of her body, and bruising on her wrists. Swabs taken from the rape sites matched Szlosek.
Mulqueen said all the evidence shows clearly the woman did not consent.
“The defendant would have you believe she consented to being injured,” Mulqueen said.
Mulqueen said the woman may have made some mistakes, but she had the right to say no.
Szlosek was serving a six to seven year state prison sentence when the woman began writing to him.
A jury found him guilty in 2004 of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon on a Springfield Water Department employee during a motorcycle club event at American Legion Post 275 in Chicopee in August 2001.