Stonebraker defense wants to exclude victim statements at trial
Stonebraker defense seeks to keep accounts from airing at trial
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HOLLIDAYSBURG -- Defense counsel for the Hollidaysburg man accused of sexually abusing two underage girls over several years filed paperwork Thursday asking the court to not allow certain statements made by the victim from being presented at trial.
Defense attorney Thomas Dickey alleged in his opposition brief filed on behalf of William John Stonebraker, 56, that one of the case's victims recanted her accusations.
Stonebraker has two separate but related cases against him, in which he is facing hundreds of counts of child sexual abuse.
Dickey wrote in his argument that the first victim had made statements such as "I heard my grandmother telling (the second victim) to say he abused her," after which the second victim began making allegations against Stonebraker. The second victim was also alleged to have encouraged the first victim to lie to Children Youth Services so they would be removed from their home.
The first victim is alleged to have accused the grandmother of repeatedly asking her if Stonebraker had "sexually molested her." She said her therapist, a friend of her grandmother's, also regularly asked if she had been abused by Stonebraker, Dickey wrote.
"Defense would allege that from (the first victim) that (the grandmother) 'put the ideas of this' into both her and (the second victim's) heads," Dickey wrote. "Specifically, that (the grandmother) had told them what to say, and she had come up with a lot of their story."
Dickey argued that the victim's recantation "calls into question the reliability of (the first victim's) statements," writing that there was "no longer any consistency in repetition."
Presiding President Judge Wade A. Kagarise previously heard arguments regarding the admission of the victim's statements during a pre-trial motions hearing in June. During that hearing, Kagarise had denied motions to dismiss made by Stonebraker and co-defendant Marie Louis Stonebraker, 44, who faces similar charges as William Stonebraker across two separate but related cases.
The four cases against the Stonebrakers were consolidated in July 2025 by Senior Judge Richard Lewis of Dauphin County for the purpose of trial.
The DA's Office filed a motion to revoke William Stonebraker's bail in June after he allegedly contacted one of the case's victims to have her recant. Stonebraker has remained free after posting $150,000 bail in one case and $250,000 bail in the other in March 2023.
Mirror staff writer Rachel Foor-Musselman is at 814-946-7458.