Accused of forcing himself on his roommate, Mark was facing a tough challenge, especially after lying about having sex with her. It took the jury six hours, but they finally found Mark NOT GUILTY!
Mark and his buddy Jamie were accused of raping Billy. Billy was Mark's apartment mate and had sex with both Mark and Jamie before. One night when they were all drinking they had a threesome. Billy went to the police the next day and accused them of rape. There was no rape. Mark was kicking Billy out of the apartment because she had lost her job and could not pay rent. She knew she could not get into the woman’s shelter unless she alleged abuse or rape.
Billy alleged that Mark grabbed her head and forced her to perform oral sex on him and that while this was happening Jamie had anal sex with her. She had no injuries consistent with a struggle(bruising, scrapes, cuts). The police arrested Mark and Jamie later that night. When they questioned Mark he repeatedly denied having sex with Billy. The police video taped this interrogation.
I initially declined representation in this case. Mark simply did not have the money to pay the fee. Two days after talking with Mark I had the honor of meeting an extraordinary man, Kenny Wymenko. Kenny spent ten years in prison for a rape he did not commit. He was freed by the innocence project. I believed that my meeting of Kenny to be a sign that I had a duty as a human being to step up and prevent an innocent man from spending thirty years in prison, if I could.
The video of Mark lying presented a special challenge. The tape bothered me because people do not lie unless they have reason, unless they are hiding something. I know that if it bothered me then it would bother the jury. I had to find a way to explain why an innocent man would repeatedly lie. To do this I had to reverse roles with Mark at the time of the interrogation. To put myself in his shoes in that interrogation room, to see the world through his eyes. When I did this I was able to explain to the jury how afraid he was, how he felt nobody would believe him and only believe his accuser.
During the trial for the first time Billy testified how Mark had repeatedly forced her to have sex with him. She told the jury how she was basically kept prisoner in Mark’s apartment. And that Mark threatened to kill her if she told anybody about his raping her. On cross examination Billy admitted that the force he used amounted to him “telling” her to give him oral sex and her feeling like she “just had to.” That in fact she came and went from the apartment as she wanted to. And that the prosecutor told her to tell the jury that Mark had threatened her life.
The jury acquitted both men after about six hours of deliberation.
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