A Groton man whose sexual assault trial is scheduled to begin Tuesday in New London Superior Court is seeking to keep from the jury a videotaped interrogation conducted by town police after a teen-age girl confided in a teacher that Crouch had raped her repeatedly.

Mark A. Crouch, 57, has pleaded not guilty to one count of second-degree sexual assault and two charges of third-degree sexual assault. The girl is expected to testify when the trial begins Tuesday.

Crouch was arrested in July 2013 after the teen reported he had taken her to several area hotels and forced her to wear a sleep mask while he sexually assaulted her. He submitted to an interview by Investigator Bridget Nordstrom and Sgt. Kelly Crandall in which he did not confess to the crime but refused to answer some questions and repeatedly asked police to bring the victim to the police department to "tell him what he did wrong," according to testimony. The interview ended after about 1 hour and 40 minutes when Crouch said he wanted an attorney.

Defense attorney Jeremiah Donovan, calling it "one of the most destructive interviews I've ever seen," argued during a suppression hearing Monday that the interrogation should be kept from the jury because the investigators did not read Crouch his Miranda rights. Crouch initially thought he was under arrest, Donovan said, and even though he had driven himself to the interview, he did not feel he was free to leave because he was taken to a small interrogation room inside the locked portion of the police department.

Donovan said the officers continued to question Crouch after he said he didn't want to talk anymore. After the interview concluded, the officers left him in the interview room for several minutes and the cameras recorded a phone call he made. Donovan argued that showing the jury the one-sided recording in which the other party could clearly be identified would violate state and federal wiretap laws.

Prosecutor Theresa Anne Ferryman said the interview was not considered "custodial" because Crouch had arrived on his own and the investigators made it clear he was not under arrest. Crouch indicated to police he had been through the interrogation process before and attempted to find out what they knew about the case, Ferryman said. She argued that Crouch, who had indicated during the interview that he was aware he was being recorded, clearly knew he was being taped when he made the phone call.

Judge Barbara Bailey Jongbloed said she would issue a ruling on the suppression issue Tuesday morning.

k.florin@theday.com

Twitter: @KFLORIN