The girl, who was the first witness to testify in the trial when it began on Jan. 7, was the victim of “outside influences” who counseled her to lie on the stand, Assistant Prosecutor Kenneth Ralph told jurors in his closing remarks.

The girl, showing considerable composure, testified that Leaf never molested her and that allegations she made two years ago were fed to her by her nanny.

Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor Kenneth Ralph yesterday in court (w/Leaf and defense attorney Brian Neary) STORY / PHOTOS: Mary K. Miraglia, CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter

Ralph criticized the girl’s appearance on the stand with a toy bear she called Pinkie and a container of apple juice.

He called the presentation “calculated,” even though the youngster was escorted into the courtroom by Victim Advocacy staffers who are part of the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office.

“You can’t blame a little girl” for lying in what Ralph said was an effort to make the whole situation go away and return to her family, the prosecutor said. “But that is not the reality.”

Ralph contended that the defense team’s insistence that nanny Weronika Karwowska concocted the story and coached the child “makes no sense.”

He called the girl “weak, sad and helpless” and said she “betrayed [Leaf] by telling the secret he told her to keep.”

Defense attorney Brian Neary, in turn, told the jurors the child “came in her with Pinkie, she answered the question from the judge about truthfulness, and she told you what happened.”

The only outside influence, he said, came from prosecutor’s investigators who lengthened the forensic interview of the girl from a law-enforcement standard 20 to 25 minutes for a child of her age to nearly 90 minutes.

Neary also pointed to a 21-minute gap in the video of that interview, after which the girl changes her story at the apparent prompting of the investigator.

Superior Court Judge James J. Guida (STORY / PHOTOS: Mary K. Miraglia, CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter)

An emotional Leaf (in court yesterday, above ) was moved to tears several times as Neary told jurors about family events that his client has missed since his arrest “one-thousand, one hundred eighty-four days” ago.

“You can’t fake emotion,” Neary said. “And you saw him at the moments that moved him, the sincerity of what that tells you.”

The seven male and five female jurors endured quite a bit in just over a month.

One of the original 16 jurors was hit by a car, two suffered deaths in their immediate families and a fourth was dismissed after telling fellow panelists he’d already made up his mind while complaining about the length of the trial.

At one point there was a lengthy discussion of continuing with only 11 jurors because yet another member of the panel had vacation plans. The possibility of a two-week break was raised, but the conflict with the juror was quickly resolved.

Two trial days were cancelled by snow, another by a flooded courthouse, and three others had already been cut short by the weather.

Attorney Brian Neary
(STORY / PHOTOS: Mary K. Miraglia, CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter)

Yesterday’s closings didn’t begin until 2:25 p.m. Neary finished just before 4 p.m. and was followed by Ralph, whose summation went well past 6 o’clock.

Those testifying besides the girl, the nanny and Leaf himself included his father-in-law, who flew from Poland to tell the jurors in Hackensack that child pornography found on a desktop computer seized from the family room of the Leaf home in Wyckoff was his.

Besides the sex assault offense, Leaf is charged with possession of the kiddie porn.

The jurors are scheduled to begin deliberations on Wednesday.

 

THE TRIAL:

 

Leaf emphatically denies child sex assault charges, says father-in-law had kiddie porn

SPECIAL REPORT: A prosecutor hit former Fox 5 reporter Charles Leaf hard yesterday in his child sex abuse trial, but the Emmy-winning investigator remained steadfast. READ MORE ….

* * * * * *

Charles Leaf professes innocence on stand, blasts nanny

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: A passionate Charles Leaf, testifying this morning in his own defense, emphatically denied sexually assaulting a 4-year-old girl — and accused the state’s key witness in the case of being untrustworthy. READ MORE ….

* * * * * *

Odd twists in Charles Leaf child sex assault trial happen outside court

EXCLUSIVE: With the final witnesses set to testify, the child sex assault trial of former FOX 5 investigative reporter Charles Leaf has been marked nearly as much by what’s gone out outside the trial as what’s been revealed inside the Hackensack courtroom. READ MORE ….

Krystof Wilsky (STORY / PHOTOS: Mary K. Miraglia, CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter)

* * * * * *

Father-in-law testifies that child pornography found on computer of Charles Leaf was his

EXCLUSIVE: The father-in-law of former FOX TV reporter Charles Leaf testified yesterday in his son-in-law’s child sex assault trial that child pornography found by Bergen County prosecutor’s detectives on Leaf’s computer was actually his. READ MORE ….

* * * * * *

Nanny in TV reporter Charles Leaf child sex assault trial begins testimony

EXCLUSIVE: The nanny in the child sex assault trial of former FOX TV reporter Charles Leaf testified today that the alleged victim told her that he touched her “there” — after previously insisting two or three times that he didn’t. READ MORE ….

* * * * * *

Lawyer, investigator clash over methods in Charles Leaf child sex trial

EXCLUSIVE: Two full days of scrupulous questioning in the child sex assault trial of former Fox 5 TV reporter Charles Leaf ended yesterday in Hackensack with a defense attorney and chief investigator from the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office continuing to butt heads. READ MORE ….

Weronika Karwowska on the stand earlier in the trial (STORY / PHOTOS: Mary K. Miraglia, CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter)

 

* * * * * *

Surprise revelation in child sex trial: Fox 5 reporter’s work computer searched for kiddie porn

EXCLUSIVE: A retired investigator testified today that Bergen County detectives searched for child pornography on the work computer of former Fox 5 reporter Charles Leaf — a fact apparently not told to defense lawyers or prosecutors before his child sex abuse trial began this week. READ MORE ….

* * * * * *

Investigator in TV reporter child sex trial talks of gap in victim interview recording

EXCLUSIVE: The second day in the child sex-abuse trial of former Fox 5 reporter Charles Leaf in Hackensack today featured a former investigator testifying about an interview she observed with the then-4-year-old girl who prosecutors say was the victim. READ MORE ….

* * * * * *

Girl, 8, in sex-assault trial says Fox TV reporter didn’t molest her

UPDATE: Showing considerable composure, an 8-year-old girl testified in Hackensack today that former FOX 5 reporter Charles Leaf never touched her and that molestation allegations she made to a therapist years ago were fed to her by her nanny, whom she called “Weronika.” READ MORE ….

(STORY / PHOTOS: Mary K. Miraglia, CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter)

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