Statutory rape carries a potential sentence of up to life, but there is no mandatory minimum without the aggravating factor.
David F. Oppenheim.NORTHAMPTON – Arts center founder David F. Oppenheim is facing a potentially lighter sentence if convicted of child rape after a judge agreed yesterday to strike that part of his indictment that constitutes aggravated rape.
Oppenheim, 37, is accused of having sex multiple times with a girl under the age of 15 to whom he was giving acting lessons. The girl had performed in a musical at Pioneer Arts Center of Easthampton, which Oppenheim founded. According to prosecutors, the abuse began when Oppenheim was teaching the girl an acting technique called “primitives,” in which the girl was supposed to keep a journal describing her reaction to various physical sensations.
A grand jury indicted Oppenheim for aggravated rape based on a 2008 state law that prescribes a mandatory minimum sentence for convictions in which the perpetrator is ten or more years older than the child victim. The indictment states that the girl was 12-16 years of age in 2007, when the alleged acts occurred.
However, Northwestern Assistant District Attorney Linda L. Pisano told Judge Bertha D. Josephson Thursday that she wanted to amend the indictment because the alleged incidents took place before the 2008 law went into effect. Josephson granted her motion. Defense lawyer David P. Hoose had intended to file his own motion to dismiss that part of the indictment but said it was no longer necessary because of Josephson’s ruling.
Statutory rape carries a potential sentence of up to life, but there is no mandatory minimum without the aggravating factor, Pisano said. The trial is tentatively scheduled for July, with a pretrial conference on June 21. Oppenheim has been free on his own recognizance since his arraignment last June with the condition that he have no unsupervised contact with children under the age of 16.