Virginia’s Court of Appeals has ordered an evidentiary hearing to help determine the credibility of a 21-year-old woman who recently recanted testimony that she had been raped as a child by her father, who is currently serving life in prison.
As WTOP reported in May 2024, Alfred “Rick” Alessi was sentenced to life in prison plus 40 years in October 2016, after a Louisa County jury found him guilty of rape and two counts of aggravated sexual battery of his daughter. Alessi’s then-14-year-old daughter took the stand during the trial as a key prosecution witness and detailed the abuse, which she had said happened when she was in first and second grade.
Now 21 years old, Vanessa Alessi said the crimes against her never happened.
WTOP typically doesn’t publish the name of sexual abuse victims, unless they prefer to be identified. However, given her 2022 public affidavit stating she was never a victim, and her current status as an adult, WTOP is reporting her name.
Monday, Virginia’s Court of Appeals ordered the Louisa Circuit Court to hold an evidentiary hearing within 90 days, to determine whether the recantations of Vanessa Alessi and her younger sister are credible.
“We find that a resolution of this case requires further development of the facts,” wrote the panel.
The appeals court also denied the motion from Attorney General Jason Miyares that Rick Alessi’s Petition for a Writ of Actual Innocence be dismissed without holding an evidentiary hearing.
In an earlier motion before the high court, Special Assistant to the Attorney General Brandon Wrobleski wrote: “This actual innocence case, brought by a man convicted of raping and molesting his daughter, is predicated exclusively on an alleged recantation that the convicted rapist’s attorneys wrote for his daughter.”
Miyares’ office told WTOP Tuesday it had no comment on the order for the hearing, citing the ongoing litigation.
Attorneys for Rick Alessi told WTOP in a statement:
“The Court of Appeals has taken a significant step towards overturning Rick Alessi’s wrongful conviction and sentence of life imprisonment. From the beginning, Rick has always insisted that he is innocent of these charges. He has been unjustly imprisoned for over 9 years. While this is a crucial step forward, the fight is not over. Our work will not stop until Rick is fully exonerated. We remain committed to ensuring that the truth prevails, and that Rick can rebuild his life free from the shadow of this wrongful conviction.”
Vanessa Alessi’s attorney, Miriam Airington-Fisher said, “We are pleased the Court of Appeals has ordered an evidentiary hearing and that the circuit court will have the opportunity to hear the evidence.”
Years later, daughter recanted testimony against her parents
Rick Alessi’s petition included a three-page affidavit from Vanessa Alessi, in which she acknowledged she was lying on the witness stand during her father’s trial.
“I have regretted my actions since it happened. I have decided to come forward now and tell the truth because I feel tremendous guilt and regret about lying that my father and mother sexually abused me,” Vanessa Alessi wrote in her affidavit signed July 11, 2022.
“I feel terrible that my father has been sentenced to life in prison for a crime he did not commit,” she wrote.
Shortly after Rick Alessi’s sentencing, Vanessa’s mother, Maria, was acquitted in a bench trial by the same judge who oversaw her father’s jury trial.
When she was 14 years old, Vanessa Alessi testified about sexual abuse at the hands of her parents. She said that several times, they undressed her, sexually abused her and allowed other adults to abuse her.
In her 2022 affidavit, Vanessa Alessi said when she was 8 years old, because of financial hardship and other personal problems with her parents, she began living with her father’s brother and his then-wife.
Shortly after moving in, she said her aunt walked in on her and her younger sister playing with dolls.
“She thought we were playing inappropriately. After this incident, she asked us all the time if we had been sexually abused by our mother and father,” Vanessa Alessi said in the affidavit. She said her aunt never seemed to like her father.
“Her constant questions felt like encouragement to lie and say that I had been abused. I believed it was what she wanted me to say,” Vanessa Alessi wrote in her affidavit.
She added that she used the false allegations of abuse to manipulate her aunt.
“It was an excuse for my bad behavior. I knew that if I did something wrong, but said it was because of the abuse, I wouldn’t get in trouble.”
What happens in upcoming evidentiary hearing
The upcoming evidentiary hearing in Louisa County will include witnesses testifying under oath and being subjected to cross-examination and the Rules of Evidence, according to the Monday ruling by the Court of Appeals.
A transcript from the lower court hearing will be forwarded to the Court of Appeals, as well as the circuit court judge’s opinion of the credibility of the witnesses: “For each witness who appears before it, the Circuit Court shall provide factual findings as to the apparent sincerity, conscientiousness, intelligence, and demeanor of the witness that it finds relevant to assessing the truthfulness of the witness’s testimony.”
In making its final ruling on whether or not to grant Rick Alessi’s motion to be declared innocent, the Court of Appeals will use its judgment in assigning weight to statements made in the upcoming evidentiary hearing, as well as previous trial transcripts.
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