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Englewood sex assault trial to begin after accused rejects plea deal

EXCLUSIVE: An Englewood man charged with sexually assaulting the same woman twice in the span of five weeks rejected an 11th-hour attempt today by prosecutors in a Hackensack courtroom to secure a plea deal, insisting that he’s innocent and ready to go to trial.

Photo Credit: Mary K. Miraglia, CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter

William Alston, 55, also is charged with violating a restraining order that authorities said the woman obtained after the alleged incidents.

Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor Kristin DeMarco repeated an offer of five years in state prison, more than four of which she said Alston must serve before he’d be eligible for parole.

DeMarco told Superior Court Judge Donald R. Venzia that she was waiting for a counter-offer, but none came from public defender Ednin Martinez.

Instead, Martinez said she and Alston are ready for trial.

Venezia told them to report to Presiding Superior Court Judge Liliana DeAvila-Silebi on Monday to be assigned a trial judge.

Authorities said Alston sexually assaulted the woman on April 27 and May 31, 2012 in Englewood. He was arrested on June 26 after the woman came forward to report that he’d violated the order of protection she’d obtained afterward, they said.

Alston, who has a criminal history involving assault and child endangerment, has been held on $50,000 bail.

STORY / PHOTO: Mary K. Miraglia, CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter

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