A former Philly homicide detective accused of rape formally rejected a plea offer

The former Philadelphia homicide detective accused of raping and sexually assaulting witnesses during his time on the force rejected a plea offer Tuesday, setting the stage for testimony in his trial to begin next week.

Prosecutors said they had offered Philip Nordo, 55, the opportunity to plead guilty to four charges, including sexual assault, and avert a trial on a larger set of crimes. The plea would not have come with a recommended sentence, meaning Common Pleas Court Judge Giovanni Campbell would have made that decision.

Campbell said the maximum sentence under prosecutors’ offer was 17 to 34 years in prison, though the guidelines suggested a term of incarceration well below that — potentially as little as three years depending on how Campbell might have structured the sentence.

Nordo’s decision to reject the plea came after his lawyers and prosecutors had spent Monday and Tuesday picking a 12-person panel and six alternates to hear his case.

Campbell said he expected opening arguments and testimony to begin on Monday.

Prosecutors have accused Nordo of sexually assaulting witnesses over more than a decade as a detective, and they’re expected to present three witnesses at trial who have accused Nordo of forcing himself on them during investigations. Prosecutors have also accused the former detective of defrauding city reward funds, and have charged him with crimes including rape, official oppression, and theft.

(They dropped a host of related counts Monday after they said they’d been unable to locate a fourth witness who had been expected to testify at trial.)

Nordo has consistently denied wrongdoing, and his supporters have cast the case as a politically motivated attempt by District Attorney Larry Krasner to prosecute police.

Nordo’s lawyers have said he is innocent, and have indicated they will seek to challenge the credibility of the accounts offered by his accusers.