Alleged rapist says of alleged victim: 'To this day we are still married'

Defense attorney Carl Swenson shows John Stonis a series of pictures that he said show where a dog bit the alleged victim. Prosecutors say the photos show where Stonis strangled her. (Rochester Voice photos)

DOVER - The victim in the John Stonis rape trial was widely discussed in open court as his lawfully wedded wife on Friday, with defendant John Stonis declaring during questioning by his defense counsel that she wanted to stay married with him and had never filed for divorce since he is alleged to have raped her on Sept. 30, 2017.

"To this day we are still married," Stonis testified. "I asked her do you still want to be married, and she was all for it. She never filed for divorce."

Stonis, 31, of East Rochester, is facing more than 40 years in state prison if convicted of rape, witness tampering and several simple assaults against the victim and two Rochester Police officers who responded to the scene around 1 a.m. on Sept. 30, 2017.

During closing arguments Assistant Strafford County Attorney Emily Conant Garod points to a timeline she said shows a correlation between contacts between accused rapist John Stonis and the alleged victim that indicate he was seeking to manipulate her from jail.

Stonis' testimony that the alleged victim in the case had still not filed for divorce followed a chippy two hours of cross-examination by Strafford County Attorney Emily Conant Garod, who questioned Stonis extensively about the wounds his wife suffered at 7 Gina Drive in the early morning hours the night of the incident.

When the alleged victim was examined by Frisbie Memorial Hospital Emergency Department personnel shortly after Stonis' arrest they found multiple abrasions, bruising of different colors indicating possibly varying times of healing, and scratches.

Stonis testified he didn't cause any of them adding that in the days prior to the incident she had tried to drag one of their dogs into the house and had fallen and rolled down a hill in their back yard.

He explained another mark on her neck was caused by another of their four dogs biting her there when she tried to stop it from eating from another dog's dish.

But when Stonis asked Garod to show him evidentiary pictures she was referring to, she refused.

"You mean we can talk about it ... but you can't show it to me?" he quipped before turning directly to the jury and urging them to look carefully at the picture and they would see tiny teeth marks.

He also testified that the alleged victim always fed the couple's four parrots and they would peck at her hand and wrist as she placed her hand inside their cage.

Other red marks on her arm and wrist were likely caused by a Bengal Bracelet she wore that often left small half-moon marks on her skin, Stonis testified.

Moments later defense attorney Carl Swenson questioned Stonis a final time, grabbing the photo Conant had referred to and taking it to the witness stand where he asked Stonis to point out where the dog had bitten the victim on the neck.

"This looks like where the dog bit her," Stonis said, pointing to the photo. "It came from several days before."

Stonis then went on at length about his relationship with his wife.

"It's like there are two (name), the one who signs all the ... documents (in this case) they made her sign and all that stuff and then the loving (name.)

"After seeing her in court the other day, I'm dumbfounded," Stonis added. "One of the last times she emailed me she said she had crashed the car cause she was thinking about me and crying."

The jury deliberated for about two hours Friday afternoon after closing arguments and receiving final instructions from Superior Court Judge Mark E. Howard. The deliberations continue on Monday.