The sexual assault trial of Douglas R. Crossley Jr. was delayed for three hours Tuesday in New London Superior Court while attorneys and Judge Barbara Bailey Jongbloed reviewed Facebook posts that one of the five alleged victims made Monday.

The 26-year-old Rhode Island woman posted a status update containing a pejorative message about Crossley before she testified and responded to comments made by others after giving her testimony.

Crossley, 40, of Mechanicsville, Va., is charged with sexually touching five underage girls between 2005 and 2010 while they baby-sat or attended parties at his former residence in Lisbon. He also is charged with giving the now 26-year-old alcohol and Klonipin when she was about 15 years old and performing a sex act on her while his wife, Danay, also touched the girl sexually.

Two other people who are expected to testify, the woman's mother and her best friend, who is also an alleged victim, commented on the Facebook post that the woman made at 12:43 p.m. Monday before taking the witness stand. She responded to their comments later in the day, after testifying.

Crossley's attorney, Max Simmons, moved to preclude the testimony of the mother and best friend and questioned the status of the testimony already given by the poster. He contended she and the other witnesses violated a sequestration order that prohibits witnesses from discussing their testimony with one another during the trial.

"This is a strange situation, as we are now interacting with social media," Simmons said.

Prosecutor Theresa Anne Ferryman argued precluding the testimony would be a "draconian" response and said the witnesses could be questioned about the posts during cross-examination.

Victim Advocate Stephanie Barber provided the court with a printout of a screen shot of the woman's initial post, but said she didn't have the comments. It appeared for some time that the woman had deleted her entire Facebook account, which Simmons said constituted "bad faith," but Barber eventually was able to obtain a printout of the entire thread.

After the judge reviewed the posts and the 26-year-old was questioned by the attorneys, Jongbloed ruled that the substance of the testimony was not discussed and the comments, which were general offers of support for the woman, did not endanger Crossley's right to a fair trial. She said the attorneys could question the witnesses about the posts.

The woman then endured a two-hour cross-examination by defense attorney Thomas Pavlinic that left her in tears. He questioned the date of the alleged "Klonipin incident," implying that she was over the age of consent (16) when it occurred. She admitted several times that she was not sure of her age at the time or the exact date. She insisted she was under 16 because she remembers she could not drive.

The woman said she "blocked out" the incident until she read on Facebook that the Crossleys were going to have a sleepover for the girl's soccer team and became concerned that others would be victimized.

Pavlinic questioned why she waited almost a year to give a statement to police after her mother contacted them. She said she was not emotionally ready and under Pavlinic's questioning admitted she was having a problem with drugs at the time. She said she regretted not going to the police sooner because Crossley went on to victimize her younger sister, who also spent time at the Lisbon home.

Ferryman called the woman's best friend to the witness stand late Monday. She testified that beginning when she was attending middle school, she accompanied her friend to the Crossley home for baby-sitting or parties and they usually slept over. The Crossleys told them to help themselves to alcohol after the children went to bed, she testified.

Crossley started to make comments about the size of her breasts, and eventually began grabbing her breasts, she testified. His wife, who has not been charged in the case, also made comments, the woman testified.

"Danay said it was normal, that I had nice breasts and that he appreciated them," she testified.

The friend is expected to resume the witness stand Wednesday and describe the "Klonipin incident," which she allegedly witnessed. She also is expected to endure questions under cross-examination about her own criminal problem. She was arrested on Saturday in Rhode Island. The charges or circumstances of her case have not yet been revealed, but she spoke with attorneys and told Judge Jongbloed she wanted to testify even though she knows anything she says in court can be used against her in the Rhode Island case.

k.florin@theday.com