Opening statements were heard today in the kidnapping case involving two University of Rochester students. Four of the nine people accused of abducting and assaulting them are being tried together.
Prosecutor Christine Callahan says the two UR football players were lured off campus by social media…then beaten, sexually abused, robbed and one was shot. She says extensive evidence will be heard, and the victims themselves will testify.
Three of the defense attorneys say their clients were only at the house on Harvest Street where the crimes took place to see friends and had no direct connection to the crime.
Francis Ciardi represents Jesus Castro-Ubiles. He says other defendants testified against his client to save their own skins.
Five other defendants have taken guilty pleas and won’t go to trial.