Mistrial Declared in Rape Case of Former New Hampshire Youth Center Worker

A mistrial was declared this week in a rape case against a former New Hampshire youth center employee.
On Tuesday, 62-year-old Victor Malavet appeared in a New Hampshire court in the state’s first criminal case involving current widespread child abuse scandals. However, the case against Malavet, a former youth detention facility employee, ended in a mistrial after the jury was deadlocked on the rape charges against him.
Malavet is among nine men charged in a child sexual abuse investigation following allegations leveled by employees of Sununu Youth Services Center in Manchester. Malavet did not work at the Sununu center but was employed at a similar facility in Concord, New Hampshire.
After about 11 hours of deliberation spanning three days, the jury informed the court that jurors were deadlocked on the 12 counts of aggravated felonious sexual assault.
Roughly two hours earlier on Tuesday, jurors in the case notified Superior Court Justice Dan St. Hilaire that they were deadlocked. He then instructed the jurors to continue deliberations.
St. Hilaire later declared a mistrial after receiving a note from the jury that read: “After additional time with thoughtful deliberation, we are still unable to come to a unanimous decision on any charges.”
During the four-day trial, Natasha Maunsell testified that when she was 15 and 16 years old at the facility in 2001 and 2002, Malavet would often arrange to be alone with her in various locations, including a candy storage room and the laundry room, where, Maunsell alleged, he repeatedly raped her.
“I remember having this gut-wrenching feeling that this is never going to end. This is never going to stop, and it’s going to continue the same way every time,” Maunsell said during her testimony.
Malavet chose not to testify, and his defense team did not call any witnesses. Jurors on Thursday did hear his denial of the allegations through the testimony of a state police officer who had secretly recorded an interview with him in April 2021.
“The only relationship I had with her, and all the kids, was just a professional relationship,” he said during the trial.
Lawyers for Malavet argued that the allegations were made up by Maunsell, in hopes of receiving money from a lawsuit. Maunsell and more than 1,000 other former residents of the state-run facilities have filed lawsuits alleging sexual abuse spanning several decades.
“It’s all lies. Money changes everything, but it can’t change the truth,” defense attorney Jaye Duncan said in her closing argument.
After the mistrial was declared, both sides declined to comment. St. Hilaire announced that a status conference would be scheduled before setting a new trial date. In a statement, Attorney General John Formella expressed disappointment with the outcome but affirmed that his office remains dedicated to prosecuting abusers.
In the first civil case to reach trial, a jury in May awarded David Meehan $38 million linked to abuse allegations at the Youth Development Center in the 1990s. The verdict is still being contested.
This article includes reporting from the Associated Press.