ROCKLAND – Richard E. DeMass Jr. was prepared to face a third trial on two dozen counts of sexually abusing his stepdaughter, but the case has been dismissed.

The victim, who just gave birth to a child, wants to move on with her life, District Attorney Geoffrey Rushlau wrote in a court document filed Thursday in Knox County Superior Court, and did not want to testify a third time. The baby is not the defendant’s, Rushlau said Friday, noting that the abuse ended several years ago.

DeMass, 37, of Warren was expected to go on trial for the third time in April or May, on 23 counts of gross sexual assault and five counts of assault, involving his stepdaughter, who is now 20. The alleged offenses occurred between February 1994 and February 1997.

In the first trial, DeMass was convicted on all counts and was sentenced to 20 years in prison with five years suspended. However, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court overturned his conviction. Then, at the end of the second trial, the judge declared a mistrial.

This would have been DeMass’ third trial.

The third trial had actually been scheduled for earlier this year, but the victim asked for a postponement because of her pregnancy, Rushlau said. Now that the victim has a child, she wants to put the events of her childhood behind her and get on with her life, he said.

“It’s sickening to have to do this because of all that she put into the case,” Rushlau said. “It would be revictimizing her to make her come back [for a third trial] against her will.”

DeMass and his attorney, however, were ready for a return to court.

“We were prepared to go to trial,” defense attorney Leonard Sharon of Auburn said Friday, and he was confident DeMass would have been acquitted.

DeMass maintained his innocence throughout and never would accept a plea bargain, Sharon said.

In December 1998, during DeMass’ first trial, he flatly denied having any sexual relationship with his stepdaughter when questioned on the witness stand by his then-attorney William Maddox of Rockland.

But, under cross-examination by Assistant District Attorney Rick Morse, DeMass had to explain a note he had written to the victim in which he said, “I need you. I need to feel you, kiss you. I am not a pervert. I think you are a beautiful woman.” On the witness stand, DeMass said he was simply trying to “rebuild a relationship” with the girl and saw no sexual connotation to the note. The prosecutor also characterized the defendant as a severe alcoholic, whose drinking was the root of the problem.

After one-hour of deliberation, the jury found DeMass guilty.

A year later, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court overturned the conviction, ruling that the judge in the 1998 trial made a mistake in allowing letters DeMass had written to the victim’s sister to be used as evidence. Superior Court Justice John Atwood presided over the first trial.

The victim and her sister were still living at home when their mother married DeMass. A short time after they wed, their mother was hospitalized. During that time, the victim woke up one night to find her stepfather kissing her, according to court records. The sexual contact later involved intercourse and DeMass threatened to kill the mother if his stepdaughter told anybody, according to court testimony.

In the first trial, the victim’s sister testified that DeMass drank heavily and that he had given her letters in 1998 that appeared to solicit romantic contact.

“The letters were not directed at the victim and therefore have no bearing on DeMass’ motive with regard to her,” the state supreme court concluded.

“For the same reason, the letters to the sister have no bearing on whether DeMass exercised domination over the victim. Similarly, if by ‘pattern of conduct,’ the state means [‘plan’], it is hard to see how a temporally and factually isolated communication between DeMass and the victim’s adult sister demonstrates an ongoing plan or scheme. … Furthermore, the act of sending a letter soliciting romantic contact from the victim’s 19-year-old sister differed in nature from the charged acts of forced sexual conduct toward the young, adolescent victim.”

Last August, DeMass faced his second trial with Assistant District Attorney Dennis Smith prosecuting the case.

After some 10 hours of deliberation by the jury and no verdict, Justice Andrew Mead declared a mistrial.

Now that the case has been dismissed – after two trials, an appeal and about 15 months in jail – DeMass can move on with his life, too, Sharon said.

“It was good news for everybody,” he said.