MANCHESTER, NH – A man convicted of raping a woman in the Valley Cemetery five years ago will remain in the Secured Psychiatric Unit (SPU) at the state prison for the next five years after a judge determined he is a sexually violent predator.
Judge Michael Klass, presiding in Hillsborough County Superior Court Northern District, in his 49-page ruling issued Tuesday, ordered Amuri Diole, 32, civilly committed until he “no longer poses a potentially serious likelihood of danger to others.” The order is valid for five years.
For Diole to remain confined beyond five years, prosecutors must petition the court again before the five years are up to have him civilly committed for another five years, a process that can be continuously repeated, resulting in Diole potentially being civilly detained for life.
Four years ago, Diole was found incompetent to stand trial on criminal charges related to the attack.
Prosecutors filed a petition in July 2022 seeking to have Diole civilly committed. Klass presided at a two-day bench trial last December, resulting in Tuesday’s ruling.
The case dates back to April 29, 2021. In his order, Klass summarized what happened that day.
Diole approached a woman before entering a Manchester restaurant and asked if she wanted heroin. She said no, but asked if he had marijuana. Diole said he did. Diole placed an order and then the two began walking toward a park about 200 feet away from the restaurant to smoke a “blunt” (a marijuana cigar).
As they were walking, in the park or nearby Valley Cemetery, the woman noticed Diole had a knife in his sweatshirt pocket. Fearful, she told him she had to leave. Diole grabbed her and, holding the knife to her throat, dragged her by her hair to the rear of a mausoleum in Valley Cemetery. She tried to fight him off, but Diole punched her in the face several times and tore off her pants and underwear. He pinned her down, continued hitting her and then forcibly raped her. The woman tried to fight him off and begged him to let her go, but then decided to wait until he exhausted himself to attempt to escape and outrun him.
After the assault continued for some time, Diole paused and the woman pushed him away and ran toward the entrance to the cemetery. Diole caught up to her, they resumed fighting and they fell to the ground. Diole struck the woman’s head against a stone post, causing her to lose consciousness. She later woke up in the same part of the mausoleum as before; Diole was sexually assaulting her again.
At one point, Diole stopped and told the woman to fellate him. She refused, saying her mouth was dry and she needed water. She told Diole she had a bottle of water in her purse and he allowed her to get it. Instead, however, she grabbed her cell phone. Diole pushed her down again and began forcibly raping her as the woman called 911 telling the dispatcher she was being raped and that her attacker had a weapon.
On the 911 call, the woman can be heard crying out in pain and begging Diole to stop.
“Apparently, the respondent either did not hear the ongoing call or was indifferent to it,” the judge wrote in his ruling.
Officers arrived several minutes after the 911 call. They found the woman behind the mausoleum, crying and distraught. She told police Diole assaulted her for two hours, wouldn’t let her leave and knocked her out. She was taken to the hospital for treatment and Diole was arrested after being located in the rear of the mausoleum.
Judge Diane Nicolosi, now retired, found Diole guilty of three counts of aggravated felonious sexual assault, but also found him incompetent to stand trial. Diole appealed and the New Hampshire Supreme Court affirmed the convictions.
The December bench trial followed to determine if Diole was a Sexually Violent Predator, a person who “suffers from a mental abnormality or personality disorder that makes the person likely to engage in acts of sexual violence if not confined in a secure facility for long-term control, care, and treatment,” according to state law.
During the bench trial, Klass heard from four mental health specialists, including a SPU nurse. She diagnosed Diole with sadomasochism, “meaning the patient acts on sexual fantasies violently” and with post-traumatic stress disorder.
A SPU mental health counselor testified that Diole said he attacked the woman because he “could do it.” She said that showed a lack of remorse, empathy and accountability and that “he would continue to do it if he felt like he could just do it again.”
A multi-disciplinary team, however, did not find sufficient evidence to diagnose Diole with PTSD, sadism or sadomasochism, according to the order. The team did, however, find Diole’s antisocial personality disorder predisposes him to commit a sexually violent offense. They also found he had an antisocial personality disorder; mental abnormalities of substance use disorder; and a bipolar disorder, all of which contributed to his predisposition to commit sexually violent offenses.
Prosecutors maintained Diole’s risk assessments indicate a high likelihood of reoffending if he is not confined to SPU.
The judge ordered Diole to be “committed to the custody of the department of corrections for control, care, and treatment until such time as [his] mental abnormality or personality disorder has so changed that [he] no longer poses a potentially serious likelihood of danger to others.” The order is valid for five years.