CLARKSBURG, W.Va. — The case of a suspended Harrison County magistrate accused of sexually abusing an underage girl will be continued to next year.
Mark Gorby, 61, of Bridgeport appeared in court on Tuesday as part of a pretrial hearing that was supposed to lead to a November 9 trial.
Now the five counts of sexual abuse by a parent, guardian or person in position of trust will now be argued in front of a jury beginning tentatively on March 7, 2016.
Senior Judge Thomas W. Steptoe Jr., who was appointed to the case by the state Supreme Court of Appeals, granted the motion for a continuance after the defense and state both explained that further evidence needed to be shared between the two sides and the analysis of that evidence would take time.
Gorby was arrested on October 9, 2014 and accused of forcing sexual intercourse on a former stepdaughter on multiple occasions from the time she was 8 years old in 2005 until she was 12 in 2009.
If convicted on all five counts, he faces 50-100 years in prison.
Monday’s hearing also allowed the court to go over several other pretrial motions filed by both the state and defense.
The majority of those motions dealt with what information pertaining to the victim’ physical and psychological health could be disclosed as part of the court’s records.
In one such motion, the defense argued that all medical records should be turned over to the them so an expert could determine if a previous evaluation that the victim suffers from a form of PTSD was accurate.
Tom Pavlinic argued on behalf of Gorby that another incident in the alleged victim’s life could have led to her current issues with drug abuse.
“If there was ever a complainant with a checked past, would this not be the one?”
After weighing the victim’s privacy against the duty to facilitate a fair trial for the defendant, the judge ordered Special Prosecutors Marcia Ashdown –appointed to the case out of Monongalia County– to collect all of the records and submit them under seal. The defense was ordered to provide a list detailing what the expert would need to make their determination and include reasons for why it is needed.
The next scheduled hearing related to the trial will take place at 11 a.m. on January 7.
Gorby remains free on an extended bond, with the qualification that he have no contact with the accuser, and is still suspended without pay.