Jury to decide whether rape, or consensual sex, occurred in dorm
Violent rape or post-encounter regret? That is the basic decision being put before a jury in a trial
which began Tuesday in the Wood County courtroom of Judge Reeve Kelsey.
John McCullough, 25, of Willoughby, faces eight charges in relation to events which occurred April 8 and
15, 2010.
He is charged with four counts of rape, including one of those with impairment; possession of LSD;
abduction; trafficking in marijuana and possession of drugs.
The rape is alleged to have occurred in a Bowling Green State University residence hall room and involved
a then 19-year-old woman. Other charges stem from a meeting set up with police which occurred a week
later, for the defendant to supposedly meet with the victim.
The alleged victim was the first and only witness to testify on Tuesday. She provided many details of the
night in question. However, there were also many events where she could not recall the details.
The victim was a BGSU freshman when the alleged incident occurred while two of her male friends were in
the room.
According to the attorneys on both sides of the case, the two roommates, the alleged victim and the
defendant all used LSD on the night in question.
Emily Kuehn, a legal intern with the Wood County Prosecutor’s office, told the jurors that McCullough
denied having any sexual contact with the victim when questioned.
The victim told the jurors that if she tried to yell for help, he would grab her throat.
During her testimony the victim said the drug "somewhat impaired" her capacity.
Her friends who were in the room most of the time, apparently were also similarly impaired. They were on
their beds only a couple of feet from the assault, but were said to be wearing headphones and unable to
hear the attack.
Defense attorney Scott Coon showed the jurors security camera footage from the dormitory hallway which
shows the victim leaving the room five times during the alleged time of the rape, and shows each of her
friends also coming and going from the room – one 10 times, the other 12 times. The defendant was also
seen on the footage coming and going.
Coon also provided records to show the victim made or received 12 calls from her cell phone during the
time.
"None of the those calls were to her mother. None were to her father. None were to 911," Coon
said.
He contended – in part, based on the security footage – that the prosecution’s witnesses lied to police
in their depositions.
Coon also told the jurors they would likely convict his client of two drug charges, but cautioned the
state cannot prove the other charges, including rape.
The prosecution noted the alleged victim’s hospital examination two days after the rape would prove
bruising which would be consistent with a sexual assault. Coon countered that consensual sex could also
produce such bruising.
Coon said the victim’s extensive details in her report to the hospital nurse and to the investigating
detective is inconsistent with her allegation that the LSD made her unable to resist at the time of the
rape.
"How you can be out of it and remember such details is beyond me," Coon said.
Under cross-examination, the alleged victim could not tell him at what point in the video the assault(s)
had already occurred. Nor could she recall the circumstances or phone conversations her cell phone
records indicated.
And she admitted to carrying some of the defendant’s belongings to his car the following morning.
She explained that at the times when she could have left or sought help she was fearful of retribution
against her or her friends.
The trial is scheduled to last for four days.