The trial of a Luzerne County man accused of inappropriately touching a juvenile family member at a 2024 holiday party in Schuylkill County enters its second day today.
Joseph Disabella, of Sugarloaf, faces charges of indecent assault of a person less than 13 years old and corruption of minors.
The trial is presided over by Schuylkill County Judge Christopher Hobbs and being held in Courtroom 4 at the Courthouse in Pottsville.
To open the trial, the prosecution presented three witnesses, including the accuser and her mother as well as a detective from Kline Township Police, who filed the charges.
The incident that led to Tuesday’s trial allegedly happened on Nov. 30 at the home of Disabella’s mother-in-law in Kelayres, Kline Township.
A total of 15 people attended the party that celebrated Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Disabella’s wife’s birthday because it would be the only time all family members would be able to get together during the holiday season.
Disabella’s accuser testified that the defendant was outside a second-story bathroom after she opened the door to the room. He allegedly said he had a present for her and wanted to show her in an upstairs bedroom.
She said Disabella had her lay on the bed and he then began touching her in an inappropriate manner over her clothes.
She said this stopped when he heard someone coming upstairs and yelled, “Get out.” After leaving the bedroom, she said she went downstairs and sat with family.
Her testimony set the stage for DIsabella’s defense and at the end of the first day of testimony, he took the stand to rebut what jurors had heard from the prosecution earlier in the day.
Disabella’s testimony followed a number of character witnesses presented by the defense as well as family members who were in attendance at the holiday party.
He denied ever touching or being alone with his accuser, a family member who was among those at the party.
When prompted by his attorney, Sud Patel, whether he touched the girl, he simply said, “No.” He gave the same answer on whether he was alone with her throughout the several hours the party lasted that day.
“I was never alone with her ever,” Disabella testified. “I never touched her, not on that date or any date.”
The Defense Strategy
A primary focus of Patel’s defense is questioning the accuser’s story. He noted inconsistencies in her testimony Tuesday versus the testimony she gave at a January preliminary hearing and the recollection of the alleged event in a forensic interview in December 2024.
Inconsistencies were noted in how Disabella did or did not follow the girl up the stairs before the incident in question, how she was positioned on the bed, and the nature of the alleged touching.
The accuser disclosed the alleged incident during an online therapy session more than a week after it was supposed to have happened, testimony on Tuesday revealed.
The therapist in that session filed a Childline report and that prompted a forensic interview in Scranton in December. Charges were pressed against Disabella through Kline Township Police Dept.
When asked why she waited until about 10 days after the alleged incident to say something, she said, “I didn’t tell anybody. I was scared. I didn’t want anyone to get in trouble. I didn’t know how to say it.”
She added that the incident made her feel “scared and uncomfortable.”
Patel also questioned Kline Township Police Detective Paul Bowman, who filed charges against Disabella.
Bowman admitted that he decided to file charges against the defendant after witnessing the forensic interview in Scranton and talking with Disabella at the Kline Township Police headquarters.
The detective said Disabella willingly showed up for the interview and did so without an attorney present. Bowman said Disabella answered all his questions with the same response, “It didn’t happen.”
Patel questioned Bowman as to why he didn’t visit the scene of the alleged incident at any point during his investigation or reach out to any of the other people who were at the party before filing charges.
The Happy Birthday Song
In addition to being a hybrid holiday party, the gathering in Kelayres on Nov. 30 also served as an impromptu birthday party for Disabella’s wife. Her mother had made her favorite, banana cream pie, and presented it in front of her after dinner had been served and cleaned up and children opened presents in a front room of the house.
The family re-gathered in the dining room for dessert. While Disabella’s wife was shown the special pie, family members serenaded her with the Happy Birthday song.
Witness after witness, all in-laws of Disabella, testified Tuesday that while they were singing Happy Birthday, they all specifically recall him sitting next to his wife.
“I would have heard about it if I wasn’t there,” Disabella testified.
That testimony of Disabella and other adults at the party did not line up with the accuser’s claim that while he was inappropriately touching her, she could hear family members downstairs singing Happy Birthday.
Wanda Black, Disabella’s mother-in-law, testified that Disabella was definitely in the dining room area when pie was served and Happy Birthday was sung.
“Joe would have been there for dessert,” she said, hinting that he’d never miss that part of the meal.
Family Members Defend Disabella, Prosecution Questions Their Full Line of Sight
Several attendees at this holiday party testified as defense witnesses on Tuesday, including a brother-in-law and mother-in-law, who hosted the party at her home in Kelayres.
Patel asked each witness if they ever saw Disabella and the juvenile go upstairs at or near the same time at any point during the party.
Kevin Black, Disabella’s brother-in-law, said he did not and that the defendant spent most of his time on a couch in the front room of the house watching a college football game on TV.
Mrs. Black told jurors that she also never saw Disabella or the alleged victim go upstairs at or near the same time. The only time she and others said they remember Disabella going upstairs was soon after dinner was served.
Disabella apparently has a GI condition that causes food to get the feeling that it’s stuck in his throat, especially when he starts eating. He excused himself soon after starting to eat to relieve himself of that feeling and returned within several minutes, she said.
They specifically recall Disabella tripping over a tricky step coming back downstairs and family members laughing at his blunder.
Mrs. Black also said she remembered that on several occasions the children at the party running around upstairs at her home attempting to play with her cats.
Despite the confidence in their testimony that each witness never saw Disabella and his accuser going upstairs at the same time, Assistant District Attorney Tom Pellish attempted to discredit that assertion.
He got Mrs. Black, a retired chef who admitted to preparing much of the family meal that day, and Disabella’s wife, who also said she never saw her husband go upstairs with his accuser, to say that they spent a good amount of time in the kitchen throughout the party and couldn’t possibly have had a line of sight on both parties involved in the alleged incident at all times.
The kitchen is an addition to the 1908 home where the party was held and is an extension on the side of the original structure with no sight line to the rest of the narrow, straight home.
Penny the Cat
The significance of a calico cat named Penny, who lives in the home where the party was held, has not yet been disclosed but her behavior and distinct habit came up in nearly every witness’ testimony.
Penny has a habit of hiding under a bedspread in the bedroom at the center of this case and on the bed where the illicit act is alleged to have happened. Mrs. Black testified that she specifically assumes this position when strangers or company are in the house.
In fact, the impression of what was presumably Penny was seen under the bedspread in an evidence exhibit photo that Patel’s defense team took when it visited the Kelayres home as part of their investigation.
Mrs. Black testified that she was certain Penny was in this spot during the party last year.
Day 2 of Commonwealth v. Joseph Disabella
Court was adjourned for the day Tuesday following Disabella’s testimony. Hobbs instructed jurors to come to the Courthouse “fresh” on Wednesday for closing arguments, jury instructions, and to begin deliberations.
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