AUBURN — Willie Minor is either a “gun-wielding, sex-trafficking, rapist, hardcore pimp” who beat and sexually assaulted a woman, then forced her to turn hundreds of tricks, or he is a “feeble, pathetic old man,” debilitated by two strokes, who was manipulated by a drug-abusing, experienced prostitute who lived with him and squandered his retirement on drugs, a defense attorney told jurors Tuesday.

Lawyer James Howaniec suggested to the eight men and six women of the jury that Minor, 58, is the latter, and that Minor is the real victim in this case.

Lawyers squared off on the first day of Minor’s trial in Androscoggin County Superior Court in Auburn, framing the case through opposing lenses. The trial is expected to last four days.

Minor is charged with four felonies: gross sexual assault, aggravated sex trafficking, aggravated assault, and domestic violence assault.

The first felony carries a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison; the next two, 10 years apiece; and the fourth, five years.

Minor is also charged with two misdemeanors, including domestic violence terrorizing and violation of privacy.

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Police said Minor raped a local, 45-year-old woman in 2016, then forced her into prostitution and beat her with a gun, a hammer and a dinner plate.

Assistant District Attorney Nate Walsh told jurors the victim would testify about the assaults she suffered at the hands of Minor, who coerced her into prostitution after he raped her and beat her over the summer and fall of 2016.

Police began investigating Minor after the woman reported he had forced her into prostitution, before turning jealous and repeatedly beating her, at one point placing a belt around her neck and pulling it tight.

According to a police affidavit, the woman told investigators Minor created several online accounts to advertise her services as a prostitute. She also said Minor instructed her on what sex acts she was to perform on clients and controlled the money she made through prostitution.

Police said she told investigators she and Minor met early in the summer of 2016 on a Lewiston street. Minor was looking for drugs, she said. A short time later, Minor paid her for oral sex, but then forced her to have intercourse, she told police.

Homeless at the time, the woman told police Minor coerced her into a working relationship by offering money and a place to live. But their relationship soon turned violent, she said.

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On Nov. 23, 2016, she said, Minor accused her of being unfaithful, threatened to kill her, struck her with a gun and placed a belt around her neck.

She said the awoke the next morning to find Minor standing above her with a hammer in his hand. He used the hammer to hit her in the back of the head, she said, injuring her head and hand as she tried to ward off the blows. Days later, he punched her and broke a dinner plate over her head, according to a police report.

The alleged victim said she tried to flee Minor’s apartment, but he threatened to kill her. She told police Minor’s home at 30 Lake St. had been used for prostitution involving several females, providing police with the names of two women, according to the police affidavit.

After she was interviewed by police, she was taken to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston, where she was treated for injuries to her head.

Police later interviewed Minor about the woman’s allegations and searched his home and vehicle. They found a hammer under a chair in the living room, according to police testimony Tuesday, and a broken dish and clump of hair in the kitchen trash.

Police said they also found a handgun locked in bathroom cabinet. They also discovered reddish-brown stains on a comforter and on the wall above a futon in the living room.

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Howaniec told jurors Tuesday prosecutors claim Minor raped the woman within hours of meeting her, and that after the alleged rape the woman asked Minor for his telephone number and would go on to have a six-month relationship with Minor, including professing love for him.

Howaniec asked jurors to use common sense to sort out the facts of what he described as a “crazy case.”

Minor was convicted in federal court in April 2018 of having a gun after being convicted on a domestic violence charge.

He asked for a different court-appointed lawyer last week shortly before a jury was selected, but the judge told Minor he could keep his lawyer or go it alone.

Last summer, a judge declared a mistrial on the charges after a witness mentioned federal criminal charges during testimony.

cwilliams@sunjournal.com


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