NORTHAMPTON — After two days of deliberations, a jury on Thursday found a former physical therapist from South Hadley not guilty of two counts of rape against a former female patient, with his attorneys also planning an appeal against a prior conviction of indecent assault and battery.

Edward Kostek, 44, who formerly worked at Cooley Dickinson Hospital, had previously been found guilty of sexual assault on a former female patient he treated in 2019. The woman who had brought forth the charges of rape against Kostek had seen him as a patient in 2012, and told the jury that she decided to come forward after learning of the 2019 incident, having a mutual acquaintance with the woman in that case. As a matter of policy, the Gazette does not identify alleged victims of sexual assaults.

Jurors in this trial were not privy to the fact of Kostek’s prior conviction, but the woman in that case had been allowed to testify for the prosecution in a bid to establish a common pattern of operation or criminal intent. A significant portion of the trial had focused on the 2019 incident, referred to by defense attorney Luke Ryan as a “trial within a trial.”

During closing arguments of the trial on Wednesday, Ryan reiterated Kostek’s claim that in 2019, he had not touched the woman’s breasts or buttocks as the jury had found him guilty of, but had examined scarring around the woman’s breast tissue as part of determining if she had Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, a condition that can lead to joint pain and abnormal scarring.

Ryan also called as witnesses several former co-workers of Kostek and other physical therapists to support the claim.

“Mr. Kostek could have chalked her up as a lost cause and joined the list of other specialists whose services either did nothing to help [her] chronic pain or actually made it worse,” Ryan told the jury on Wednesday. “Mr. Kostek went above and beyond to search for a potential source of his patient’s symptoms.”

With regard to the woman in the current case, the defense mainly focused on a Facebook friend request the woman had sent Kostek shortly after she stopped seeing him as a patient. Kostek had accepted her request and had sent her a message, and the woman had responded in a friendly manner.

“There is no way in the world she would have sent this message to the creep responsible for her torture,” Ryan said. “That’s why this receipt proves that her story isn’t true.”

The prosecution, led by Assistant District Attorney Andrew Covington, had tried to argue that while the woman had sent the request, Kostek’s acceptance and initiation of a conversation had shown a lack of professionalism on his part.

“All that Facebook message shows is that the defendant has a hard time with boundaries,” Covington said in his closing arguments. “He could have declined the request. He could have said, you know what? This is a young female, as a married professional, I’m just going to go ahead and decline it.”

But Covington’s arguments, as well as testimony from the woman herself, were not enough to sway the jury members, who determined that Kostek was not guilty of the two alleged counts of rape. In a statement to the Gazette, Covington said he respected the jury’s decision.

“The survivor was very brave in coming forward. The commonwealth knew this was a difficult case but felt strongly that bringing the case to trial was the right thing to do,” Covington said. “We are also heartened that a previous jury found Mr. Kostek guilty of indecent assault and battery involving a different female patient.”

Kostek received a suspended two-year jail term and two years probation in that case.

Throughout the trial, many of Kostek’s friends and family members, including his wife, Michelle, had filled up the benches on the defendant’s side of the courtroom in support of Kostek. In a statement, the Kostek’s family expressed gratitude to his defense attorneys and supporters of his claim of innocence.

“We would like to thank all who played a role to ensure that justice was served for Ed,” the statement read. “We would also like to thank the many supporters from the community who tirelessly came to the courtroom each day. To you, we are forever grateful.”

Following the not guilty verdict, Kostek’s defense team will look to overturn his prior conviction of indecent assault stemming from the 2019 incident. Kostek’s attorneys have filed a brief with the Massachusetts Appeals Court, as has the DA’s office.

“We will continue to work to exonerate Ed on his prior wrongful conviction and restore the good name of this good man,” Kostek’s lawyers said in a statement to the Gazette.

Alexander MacDougall can be reached at amacdougall@gazettenet.com.