After 2½ hours of deliberation Friday, a jury convicted a husband and wife of grooming their son into a sexual partner to his mother and raising him in squalor.
The boy, now 14, testified in horrifying detail Thursday about how his father, Robert Caravella, introduced him to pornography at age 7 and how, on his eighth birthday, led him upstairs and demanded he have sex with his mother, Carol Hann.
The boy, living with a foster family and enrolled in public schools after a childhood steeled from society, did not return to the courtroom Friday for the verdict.
"Obviously he was very relieved just to have it all over with," said Assistant District Attorney Jenny Roberts, who prosecuted the case. "It has been very stressful, preparing for trial, knowing he's going to have to go to court and face (Ms. Hann and Mr. Caravella). He was just very relieved to get it over with."
Ms. Hann, 45, wavered between resignation and resentment after the verdict.
"It is finished. I'm dying, so I win," Ms. Hann said as sheriff's deputies led her from the courthouse in shackles and handcuffs. She would only describe her condition as a "bad thyroid." Moments later, Ms. Hann said: "I was framed."
Ms. Hann was charged with rape of a child, corruption of minors, endangering the welfare of children and incest.
Mr. Caravella slumped his head as the verdict - seven convictions for Ms. Hann, six for him - echoed through the courtroom. He remained silent as he and another set of deputies trailed his wife out of the courthouse. Mr. Caravella was charged with conspiracy to commit rape of a child, corruption of minors, endangering the welfare of children and distributing explicit sexual material to minors.
Mr. Caravella, convicted in April of sexually abusing two underage girls between 2002 and 2005, will be sentenced on both cases Jan. 14, Judge Tina Polachek Gartley said.
Ms. Hann, whose rape of a child conviction carries a mandatory minimum 10-year sentence, will be sentenced March 4, Judge Gartley said.
Ms. Roberts said she would ask Judge Gartley to impose consecutive sentences. Both must undergo evaluation by the state's Sexual Offenders Assessment Board, Judge Gartley said, and could be required to register as sex offenders for the rest of their lives under the state's Megan's Law statute.
Ms. Hann and Mr. Caravella's attorney, Andrew Katsock, told jurors Friday the couple had long maintained their innocence and were "not guilty of any of these crimes."
Mr. Katsock attacked the prosecution case as fueled by "self-serving" police officers and case workers from the county's children and youth office. Prosecutors, he said, failed to provide evidence to substantiate their claims of abuse and deplorable living conditions. The boy, he said, had been described by a caretaker as a "liar and a manipulator."
Ms. Roberts, in her closing argument, cast Mr. Caravella and Ms. Hann as the liars, stringing together the superlatives Ms. Hann used to describe herself Thursday - "gifted," "strict," "Pocahontas," "professional dancer," "clean freak," and "good Christian woman" among others - and her bizarre explanation for abdicating her parental responsibilities.
Ms. Hann said she "purposefully" chose not to care for her son, Ms. Roberts said, "because she doesn't want to be accused of molesting him."
"Who says that?" Ms. Roberts continued. "I'll tell you who says that - a person who molests her son."
The boy, testifying Thursday, said he and his mother fell into a routine of sex as much as four times a week after the initial encounter on his eighth birthday. Each time, he said, "she'd start by taking her clothes off and I'd follow."
Later, during their pornography sessions, the boy said, Mr. Caravella would coach the boy on his performance, the boy said. Mr. Caravella would use the films to teach technique, the boy said, as if he were a football coach reviewing game tape.
"As time went on and he lived with his foster family, he was taught what was right, what was wrong, what was socially acceptable," Ms. Roberts said after the verdict. "Now he realizes everything he has been through."
Contact the writer: msisak@citizensvoice.com