Counsel working pro bono for a 16-year-old girl sexually assaulted at a local public library when she was 7 have secured a $750,000 verdict against her attacker, who is serving a 17-year prison sentence.

Sean Stokes of Hartford's RisCassi & Davis, lead counsel on the case, said representing the victim pro bono was “a no-brainer” that his colleagues fully supported. “This was an opportunity to do what I chose to go to law school for,” Stokes said. “I'm lucky to be at RisCassi & Davis, which recognizes the good that we do and the importance of making sure people are compensated, even when there's little to go after.”

The plaintiff, identified as Jane Doe in court documents, was visiting the Licia and Mason Beekley Library in New Hartford with her mother during the summer of 2008 when Christopher Darazs, then 29, of New Hartford, entered the library with his own young child. According to court records, Darazs approached the victim and brought her to a secluded area of the library, where he asked the victim to lift her dress and orally assaulted her. The victim immediately reported the incident to her mother, but the perpetrator could not be located. Darazs was arrested days later, court documents note, after a police sketch developed with the victim's assistance was circulated.