IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) – Jurors on Wednesday deliberated in the case of a former University of Iowa football player accused of sexually assaulting a female athlete while she was passed out in a dorm room.
The jury must decide whether to believe the woman, who was a freshman when the alleged assault happened in October 2007, or defendant Cedric Everson, whose attorney claims the woman couldn’t remember consenting to sex with him after a night of drinking.
Both sides agree that the woman was out partying before she ended up in an empty dorm room, where Everson and a teammate of his had sex with her before she woke up covered in blood. The woman, who was also a scholarship athlete, testified that she was a virgin and did not consent to sexual intercourse with either player.
Everson is charged with third-degree sexual abuse and faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted. His former teammate, Abe Satterfield, reached a deal with prosecutors in which he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault and testified at Everson’s trial.
Prosecutor Anne Lahey told jurors that Everson snuck in the room and committed a “stealth assault” on the woman while she was asleep after Satterfield forced her to have sex with him.
The woman testified that she performed oral sex on Satterfield to try to avoid intercourse, but that he held her down and ignored her pleas to stop. She said she woke up the next morning bloody and naked with Satterfield in bed next to her.
She reported the incident to police, but said it wasn’t until weeks later that she learned Everson had also had sex with her. Lahey said Everson had bragged to teammates that he and Satterfield had “trained” a woman.
Lahey told jurors Satterfield and Everson “traded places” while the woman was passed out. Everson entered the room, told Satterfield to get out of bed, and had intercourse with her before leaving and telling Satterfield to get back in bed to cover up his actions, she said.
Even if jurors believe Satterfield’s testimony that her sex with him was consensual, the woman never consented to sex with Everson, Lahey said.
Everson’s defense attorney, Leon Spies, told jurors the woman consented to have sex with Everson and doesn’t remember because she had been drinking heavily earlier that night. He said she doesn’t remember many details of the night, including having sex with his client, because she was in a state of “functional blackout.”
“Amnesia does not mean helpless,” Spies said.
Witnesses who saw her around the dormitory testified that she wasn’t acting drunk.
District Judge Paul Miller, who is presiding over the trial, rejected a request from the Johnson County jury on Wednesday to review the video testimony of Christine Kuczek, a former Iowa swimmer and friend of the alleged victim. Miller told jurors they would have to rely on their memories of the testimony.
Kuczek testified that she was drinking with her friend hours before the alleged assault and that her friend told her the next morning she had been raped. Kuczek drove her friend to the hospital.
The jury will first consider Everson’s guilt on third-degree sexual abuse and then consider two lesser charges: assault with intent to commit sexual abuse and assault.
Miller on Tuesday threw out the most serious charge against Everson, second-degree sexual abuse, which carried a maximum penalty of up to 25 years in prison. He said he found “insufficient evidence” that Everson was aided and abetted by Satterfield, an element essential to justify the charge.
Satterfield testified that the woman was “the aggressor” and had consensual sex with him. He said he got out of the bed in the middle of the night after Everson tapped him on the shoulder but that he doesn’t know what happened after that because he fell back asleep.
Both players were suspended from the Iowa team days after the assault and later transferred to other schools, as did the woman.
Add A Comment