BDSM RTV MEDIA NEWS!!!!


24 august 2009


DuBois man found guilty of rape


Source: www.leader-vindicator.com Leader Vindicator


CLEARFIELD - The testimony of a DuBois Man charged with drugging a woman, tying her up and raping her did nothing to help his case as it took a jury only 40 minutes to return a guilty verdict after the second day of his trial Friday.


Stephen A. Henry, 25, 10 N. Jared St., DuBois, was found guilty of rape, criminal conspiracy to commit rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, criminal conspiracy to commit involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, sexual assault, criminal conspiracy to commit sexual assault and unlawful restraint.
The charges stem from an incident Oct. 23 at a West Scribner Avenue residence.
District Attorney William A. Shaw Jr. said Henry could be looking at a sentence of up to 20 years in prison. He will also be evaluated to determine if he is a sexually violent predator.
Shaw said he was extremely pleased with the response of the DuBois City Police in the case and their investigation.
On the first day of the trial, the victim, who was 19 at the time of the assault, said she was at the residence drinking, watching a movie and listening to music with Henry, Vincent Hart , 19, DuBois, Thomas Selvage, 23, DuBois, and Brian Selvage, 22, DuBois.
When she came downstairs after using the upstairs bathroom, she was grabbed by Henry, who held a knife to her throat. After she asked "What's going on?" he said, "One more word and I'll slice your neck open."
He took her to the couch where her hands were shackled and duct taped behind her. Duct tape was also wound around her and covered her mouth. Henry cut off her tank top.
The victim said Henry made her get on top of Hart and then got behind her. Later she said she wasn't sure who it was on the couch because she had her eyes closed in fear. She was raped, vaginally and anally.
The duct tape was ripped from her head and Henry forced her to perform oral sex on him.
After it was over, she was allowed to leave only after she signed a "contract" giving up all her rights to Henry and the others. He threatened to kill her if she told anyone.
She ran to a friend's house and called the police. The police took her to the hospital where she was examined and evidence was taken.
"Is this something you wanted to happen," Shaw asked. "Did you agree to be tied up and have sex?"
"No," she answered.
During cross-examination by Henry's attorney, Joseph Ryan, she admitted to drinking about six beers that night. Earlier she said Henry gave her a cup with a mixture of punch and beer. After she drank it, Henry told her he had drugged the beverage.
The victim also agreed that the next day she sent a text message to Henry's girlfriend, reading "LOL Steve's going to jail."
"Did you think the situation was funny?" Ryan asked.
"Yes. I was mad at what he did to me," she replied.
When asked about that again by Shaw, the victim said she "wanted his girlfriend to know what he did to me."
Hart said he saw Henry grab the victim and hold a knife to her throat. Much of his account was the same as the victim's except he said he watched from the kitchen and only touched her after Henry told him to.
Hart said the victim was crying and distressed. Henry told Brian to tie the victim up and duct tape her mouth. Hart saw Brian Selvage and Henry pick her up and put her on top of Thomas Selvage, who was naked on the couch. Henry then got behind her. It was at that point that Hart felt it safe to leave the residence, because Henry had put the knife down.
When asked how the Selvage brothers appeared, Hart described them as "lost," as if they didn't know what was going on but listening to Henry's instructions.
Hart said he didn't physically try to stop the assault because he was afraid of what Henry would do with the knife, but he did yell at them to stop.
Shaw asked Hart about comments Henry had made before the assault. Hart said Henry had mentioned that he was going to "take her at knife point" and take advantage of her. When questioned about this by Ryan, Hart said he didn't take the comments which he heard weeks before seriously, or he would have done something.
Hart ,who is also charged in this incident, admitted that he has signed a plea agreement and wanted to testify.
"I couldn't help her physically, so I thought I'd help her verbally," Hart said.
Ryan noted that Hart is pleading to indecent assault, which would give him a much shorter sentence than a rape charge.
Shaw later made it clear that the rape charges would have been withdrawn anyway, as there was no evidence Hart raped the victim, but only touched her. Shaw asked if the victim knew him well, to which Hart said she didn't, making it easy for her to misidentify him as one of the rapists.
Thomas Selvage said he also saw Henry grab the victim after she came down the stairs and put a knife to her throat. He said she was crying and asking him not to "do this." He mentioned the drugged drink that Henry gave the victim before the assault and that Henry threatened them all with the knife.
According to Selvage's testimony, Hart removed the victim's pants, but Brian Selvage took off her shoes. He said Henry cut and removed her shirt.
Henry told him to lie down on the couch and put her on top of him, he said. Selvage said Henry got behind her. Afterward, Selvage got off the couch and got dressed. He saw Henry remove the duct tape and force the victim to perform oral sex on him.
Selvage has also signed a plea agreement for aggravated indecent assault charge. He said he wasn't promised any specific sentence and was planning on testifying anyway.
Motions have been discussed in court prior to the trial questioning whether Thomas Selvage is able to understand the charges against him and whether he is competent to stand trial.
Brian Selvage was declared not competent to stand trial lastweek.
Other day one testimony featured forensic scientists from the state police who examined the physical evidence. Dr. Alex Glessner, who works in the DNA lab, said DNA tests from the victim's vaginal and rectal swabs matched Henry's DNA. Swabs from a condom found after the incident matched Thomas Selvage's DNA, and another condom matched Henry's. Blue liquid residue found in a cup contained traces of a sleeping pill.
Robin Park, a nurse at the DuBois Regional Medical Center Emergency Room, also testified regarding her examination of the victim. She described her "as scared and very fearful" but she did not appear to be intoxicated. The victim had glue still stuck on her face, hair and wrists from the duct tape. She had scratches on her back and her earlobes were red from where earrings were removed by Henry ripping them out, according to the victim's testimony.
Second-day testimony featured the police officers involved in the investigation and Henry himself.
Officers Mike Davidson and Randall Young of the DuBois City Police said they responded to the reported rape and found the victim, visibly upset, crying, and shaking. She was transported to DRMC.
Officer Steve Maholtz said he received a call that Henry wanted to tell his side of the story so he went to that residence. Henry said the group was playing truth or dare when the victim dared them to ejaculate into a cup. He said he and Thomas Selvage did that. The victim went to the bathroom several times with the cups, Henry told him. Henry agreed to go to the police station and give a written statement. Maholtz contacted Officer Young, saying the Selvage brothers should have more information on the incident.
Davidson and Young went to the Selvage residence where they spoke to Thomas and Brian Selvage. The brothers gave further information and supplied evidence such as rolled up duct tape with the victim's hair still attached to it. They also told the officers where Henry had thrown a backpack that contained the knife and other incriminating items.
When they recovered the backpack, it held two knives or daggers, chains with leather straps, the victim's earrings, several unused condoms, duct tape and prescription bottles with Henry's name on them.
The officers returned to the residence and were allowed to search it. They found two used condoms, broken pills and the plastic cup with a blue substance still in it.
When they returned to the police station with the backpack Henry changed his story. He claimed he did have sex with her but it was consensual.
Henry said he was at a West Scribner Avenue address in DuBois hanging out with the victim, Thomas and Brian Selvage and drinking. He and Thomas Selvage walked to his residence, where he picked up his backpack and a can of blue punch. Vincent Hart joined them when they went back to the other residence. When questioned as to the contents of the backpack, Henry said he always carries condoms, forgot about the duct tape, thought he could trade the daggers for movies and the chains were there because he planned on having sex if "he could get it" from the victim.
After they returned to the residence, he mixed the punch with beer for each of them, Henry said while denying adding anything else to the drink.
When she went upstairs to the bathroom, he said to the others maybe they could "get sex" because he claimed the victim loses her inhibitions when she drinks. She returned downstairs and according to Henry, said yes when he asked her if she wanted to have some "fun."
His story included many of the same details, other than he said the sex was consensual. He said that after he told her he was into bondage that her eyes got big, but said she agreed. He bound her hands with the chains and remembered the duct tape, which he asked her about, and she said OK. He put duct tape on her arms, but said he didn't know anything about the duct tape around her head and mouth.
He denied that she said no at any point or indicated that she wanted to stop.
He said he had no plans to attack and rape the victim.
During cross-examination, he claimed he did not write the "contract" the victim was required to sign.
"Were you trying to convince her that she couldn't say she was raped?" Shaw asked.
No, Henry answered; contracts are usually involved in bondage sex.
In his closing arguments, Ryan summed the case up as a question of whether there was consent or not.
He cited the lack of physical evidence that the sex was forced as there was nothing in the exam report of tearing or injuries to the victim. Showing one of the photos of the victim during the exam, he pointed out that she was smiling.
In his closing arguments, Shaw addressed the photo. She gets brutally raped, goes to police, is taken to the hospital where she undergoes an exam and the "girl is traumatized again," he said.
When a camera is in your face, it's an instinct to smile, he said. Then he pointed to the marks under her nose from glue residue. She also still had residue in her hair.
"Why is this important?" Shaw asked. "Because the defendant said it didn't happen. He doesn't know anything about it."
Shaw referred to Henry's comments that he went slow when he was having anal sex with the victim because he didn't know if she had done that before.
"Did he ask her that? No, he did not. She did not consent to it. She can't say a word." He added that Henry didn't know if she was crying or not because he didn't look.
"It's offensive to suggest that this was consensual."
He summed up Henry's actions as a man who had not had sex for a year, seeing a young lady and getting it in his mind that he's going to take advantage of her. He leaves and goes where? To get the tools necessary to satisfy his sexual frustration, the shackles, condoms, duct tape, knives and the blue punch to put blue pills in to drug her, Shaw said.
Shaw noted that what the others testified happened that night was consistent with the physical evidence and the only person who lied to police was Henry.