Rape Trial

Two and one-half years ago the daughter of some good friends was raped by an acquaintence. She made mistakes that led up to that night and she readily admitted those mistakes. She once dated the guy. After a week or so she began to realize that he was quick to anger (then quick to soothe), had some unsavory friends, and took calls in the wee hours from a number of women. She came to know this when he would put his cell phone on speakerphone and then tell the women to "take the money over to my brother's house...I'm busy right now".

After two weeks she told him that she was no longer interested and that he needed to cool it. But he wouldn't do that. He kept calling. She kept saying no.

One night she went out after work to have a drink and to visit with friends. She began to feel ill and went home alone. Around 3am he called and told her that he was coming over. She said no. But he came anyway. Because she was afraid of him waking neighbors and because he'd never harmed her she let him in. She went back to bed and covered all of herself, including her head. Then she heard two voices and she recognized the second name and voice as someone she knew.

Let's give these people names. The woman is Sandy, the rapist is Sicko, and his friend is Andrew.

Sicko and Andrew sat down in the living room of Sandy's small apartment and smoked some weed. Then Andrew said that he'd be leaving. Sandy told them both to leave and to leave now. She said this repeatedly. But only Andrew left. Sicko stayed. He came into her bedroom and said that he wanted to just hold her. She told him to leave, that she was ill, that she wanted to sleep. "Just go.", she said, again and again.

Instead Sicko raped her. But she was dry so he went down on her. She nearly got away, but Sicko is a big man and he wrestled her back underneath him and he raped her. Then, when he'd finished, he called Andrew to come get him. Sandy was crying, hysterical, and telling him that he raped her. Sicko said something like, "We used to do this all the time and now you're calling it rape!"

Sandy lay in bed for hours. Early in the morning she called some friends but found that the words, "I was raped.", wouldn't come out of her mouth. She knew not to shower. So she waited. Later in the morning a female friend called to say the her son had just broken his arm and that they were in the ER. Again Sandy couldn't say "rape" but she asked her friend to call back when she could.

The friend called back later in the afternoon. Sandy said the word "rape" and the friend said, "Call 911, now, and I'll be there right away." Sandy called 911. The friend appeared. Then came the police. Sandy ended up in the rape unit at a nearby hospital where DNA samples were taken from inside and outside of her body. Sandy's parents showed up, as did my wife and I because we happened to be with the parents that evening. Seeing Sandy, even for a few moments, told me that her story was true.

Sicko, as will all cowards, ran. He left the state. The police said that they would be hard pressed to find him but that such creeps will always break the law again, that Sicko would be caught, and he was, nearly two years later. He was in a hotel room with some prostitutes, drunk, disturbing the peace, and in possession of drugs. The hotel manager asked them to quiet down, but they didn't. Sicko ended up back in Oregon, in jail, awaiting trial.

The trial began midsummer. That's when I first saw Sicko. As I said, he's a big man, with a dead face, and no soul in his eyes. The defense attorney, we were told by the DA (a woman, by the way) was pretty much hated, though not feared, by the DA's office. We were warned to expect tricks and underhanded tactics, and we got them.

After a couple of days of pretrial motions and jury selection the trial began. We drew an inexperienced judge and a tiny courtroom despite this being the high profile case of the moment. The jury was from young the middle-aged with one or two people who were probably in their late 5o's. Sicko's friends and family were a mix. Some were part of his stable of prostitutes and one was his girlfriend of the moment. There was an older man who appeared with a huge brief case and it seemed as if he was trying to appear to be an attorney. He snorted and laughed often at various proceedings and statements. What we were told was the defendant's young son was there also. Nothing like attending dad's rape trial.

The first witnesses were the police and the medical stall from the rape unit. They all did a fine job. The defense attorney tried to imply that the police saw this as a minor case because they delayed the investigation. The lead investigator, who looked and sounded like a top notch TV detective, soon put that lie to rest. But the best part was when he was asked by the DA if he saw the accused rapist in the courtroom. With a dark gaze he pointed long and hard at Sicko, daring him to stare back.

A little more about Sicko, and these are things that the jury was not allowed to know. We don't want to prejudice a case now, do we. Sicko has a long criminal record. He's been convicted of rape once before. He's been in prison. He's been convicted of several other felonies and is wanted in other states. And he's a registered predatory sex offender. Or he's supposed to be. He also skipped out on parole. And he's a member of an organized gang. The jury didn't see him brought in flanked by deputies, wearing shackles and handcuffs, pink socks and a prison shirt. Too bad.

Sandy was called to the stand. Sandy is an attractive young woman, striking in fact. She has an erect posture, perfect skin and beautiful hair. She dresses nicely, is polite and well spoken, and she works full time as well as attending college full time.

The DA walked her through the night of the rape. Sandy had seen none of the police reports, none of the interviews she'd given to the police 2 1/2 years earlier, none of the cell phone records, nothing at all to synch up her memory with what she'd said back then. Slowly, painfully, and in detail she told of the events of that night. She admitted that she'd been drinking. She admitted that she'd let Sicko in though she didn't realize that Andrew was with him. As she described that actual rape she broke down, as did all of us on the side of the prosecution, and a short recess was called.

After the recess, Sandy resumed. She remained composed and told the rest of the story, then the experience of the rape unit, of the police interviews, and of waiting for Sicko to be caught. She lived in fear, though she clearly stated that she went about her life much as before, that she didn't intend for such scum to limit her life.

Then came the cross-examination. The defense attorney, let's call him Dick, started off mean then went to nasty. "Do you remember who called you at 11:20pm on March 3rd, 2005? You don't?! Well, who called you at 2:05am on March 4th 2005? You don't remember?" And so on. He switched back and forth in time and place. He tried to say that if she couldn't recall that then how could she recall being raped. At one point he blurted out that Sandy had dropped LSD one night, although there was no evidence to support that (and therefore could not be stated in court), and even though Sandy is not a drug user. I know her. She's direct and honest, even about her faults, and she says that drugs are not her thing.

This went on for hours, but Sandy won on every attack. At one point she said that she might not recall exactly what she drank that night but that she'd never ever forget what happened to her on that night. She admitted to mistakes. She looked directly at Dick, though he rarely, if ever, looked at her at all. Finally Dick gave up and she was questioned again by the DA, just to clear up a few points.

Dick made a dozen glaring mistakes during these first days of the trial. The DA was obviously smarter, better prepared, more determined, and was able to lead Dick down into several sly traps, much to Dick's frustration. But Sandy was on the stand for many hours. It was painful and exhausting. The defense was damaged but the price was high.

The prosecution rested.

Dick first called a psychologist. I can't possibly explain this convoluted mess. According to law, this guy's testimony should not even have been allowed for a number of reasons but the judge allowed it. The point of the testimony was to show that Sandy was deeply clinically depressed, a heavy drinker, and that she had the memory of a slug. The psych admitted that he could not possibly diagnose Sandy nor could he attest to her state of mind the night of the rape. But Dick kept twisting things and the compliant judge let things go....too far. But that's how things go.

Keep in mind that the DA gets only one shot. If Sicko is found not guilty. That's it. He's free to go. A frightening thought indeed.

The next defense witness was Andrew. Well, he was useless to the defense. In the first place he was a two time convicted felon and the jury heard that right off the bat. He'd told one story to the defense investigator, another story to the police, and on the stand he told a third story. Andrew was there to say that the rape had been consensual sex. That he'd seen them having sex. When Dick asked Andrew if Sandy was crying or saying no Andrew looked at Sicko and they laughed, and Andrew said that she wasn't complaining at all. The jury didn't like that. They weren't laughing.

Sicko couldn't possibly take the stand. On the stand all of his past bad acts could and would be brought to light. How hard would it be to convict a registered predatory sex offender of rape? So the defense had two witnesses and rested their case. It went to the jury around noon on a beautiful summer day.

Two hours later we heard that the jury had reached a verdict. It seemed too soon. Juries are known to take the easy path at times. Let the guy go, then they can all go home. We sat on pins and needles. The judge warned the room to not react, no outbursts, nothing. The foreperson stood. "Rape in the first degree. Guilty. Sodomy in the first degree. Guilty. Second degree sexual assault. Guilty." The jury was polled. Each juror voted once on each of the three charges for a total of 36 votes. Dick and Sicko soon learned that the jury had voted him guilty 35 of 36 votes. Powerful. Little room to point to a split jury as an appeal. (Note: In Oregon it takes 10 of 12 for a finding of guilty in these cases.)

Sentencing comes soon. Former victims of Sicko will be there to testify as will the police and parole officers. I'm sure there will be others. Sicko will likely have some people to say what a great guy he is. But he's going to prison for a long time. Hopefully for a long long time.