The attorney for a UCLA student allegedly raped on campus in
2002 told jurors during her closing arguments Thursday to think
about the sexual encounters simply.
Prosecuting attorney Alyson Messenger asked the jury to imagine
a young woman sitting alone in her dorm room.
Three young men come to her room, she has unprotected sex with
one and then group sex with the other two, she continued. This all
happens, even though she’s only known them for 10 minutes,
Messenger added.
“An improbable scenario has become a ridiculous
scenario,” Messenger said.
The presiding Judge Steven Van Sicklen told the 12 jurors, nine
of whom are female, that closing arguments are not evidence and
reminded them that they are the ultimate judges of what the facts
are.
On Dec. 5, 2002, the defendants Jamar Dawson, Chuwan Anthony and
DeShawn Stringer were on a field trip to UCLA with their high
school.
The three broke off from the group and explored some of the
dorms in De Neve Plaza. During testimony earlier in the case, the
defendants said one of the reasons they were in the dorms was to
meet girls.
While in the Fir building of the plaza, the three came to the
door of the student the court is calling Jane Doe for
confidentiality reasons.
Stringer entered the woman’s room and allegedly raped her
after Dawson and Anthony had gone somewhere else, the prosecution
said. Messenger added Dawson and Anthony entered the room after
Stringer had left and allegedly forced her to have intercourse and
oral sex with them.
The defense says the sex with the defendants was consensual, and
that in some cases the woman had been the aggressor. While the
prosecution says the woman said “no” several times to
Stringer, both parties agree the woman never said “no”
during her encounter with Dawson and Anthony.
During Thursday’s closing arguments, Messenger, who used a
Powerpoint presentation to demonstrate her case, told jurors they
should think about “three C’s” when making their
decision ““ consistency, credibility and corroboration.
Messenger said the woman had been consistent with her testimony
both during the preliminary hearing and on the stand during
trial.
The woman was also credible and had no motive to lie, Messenger
said, noting the woman hadn’t filed a suit for money.
Messenger said the woman’s testimony alone would legally
suffice for allegations of rape, but there was also other evidence
that corroborated her story.
Medical evidence and the testimony of an expert witness were
among the things Messenger said added to the credibility of the
woman’s story.
Messenger presented a poster with diagrams of vaginas, pointing
to them and describing the testimony of a nurse who said there were
a number of injuries to the area.
If sex is consensual, then “the goal is to please one
another, not injure one another,” Messenger said.
Eugene Matthews, the attorney for Anthony, said on Wednesday
that most of his case is built around the idea of implied
consent.
According to Matthews, though the woman may have never said
“yes” to sex with his client, her actions and words
also never said “no.”
The defense also raised questions as to the victim’s
actions after the sexual encounters, noting she didn’t
immediately go to the police, but continued writing a paper and
went to the student health center before reporting the crime.
Messenger also reminded the jurors of the expert witness
testimony that explained what happens to a woman during and after
rape.
Messenger focused on the idea of “frozen fright,”
which she said is one of the things that explains the woman’s
lack of verbal or physical resistance during the encounter with
Anthony and Dawson.
The three defense attorneys will close today.
During a break in his son’s testimony on Wednesday, Robert
Dawson, Jamar’s father, said he was confident the defendants
were going to be acquitted.
“It cost me a lot of money to get the right attorneys for
him,” Dawson said, adding the entire process has been a
hardship for his family.