Rape trial against 47-year-old begins

YOUNGSTOWN -- The 19-year-old complainant in a rape trial that began Thursday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court Judge R. Scott Krichbaum's court plans to testify against the defendant.
Prosecutors said the woman is ready to tell her story in court in the case against William G. Haschenburger, 47, of Fincastle Lane, Youngstown. Haschenburger is charged with 10 counts of rape between July 26, 2000, and July 26, 2003, when the complainant was 14 to 17 years old. He could face a prison sentence of 100 years or more if convicted on all counts.
Jury selection began at 9 a.m. and continued past noon. The trial began about 2:30 p.m., and the jury heard opening arguments from the prosecution and defense, as well as some witness testimony for the prosecution.
The prosecution said Haschenburger was a family friend who used his position of trust to establish a relationship with the victim, which led from friendship to kissing and touching to forced intercourse and sometimes oral sex and sodomy.
The defense questioned why the complainant waited five years to report rapes and said its case would show there is no physical evidence to support rape, only the testimony of the woman, her parents and her boyfriend.