Apr 2, 2008 6:07 pm US/Central
Opening Statements Heard In Jones Rape Trial
(WCCO)
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Minnesota Gophers football player Dominic Jones was arrested on probable cause of criminal sexual conduct July 15, 2007.
University of Minnesota
A jury heard the opening statements in the rape trial of a former University of Minnesota football player Wednesday afternoon.
Dominic Jones was arrested on July 16 and charged with sexual assault.
He's accused of having sex with a woman at a party while she was unconscious.
The Prosecutor made her openings arguments to the 14 jurors on the case, starting at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday in Hennepin County District Court in downtown Minneapolis.
She told the nine men and five women on the jury that Jones knew what he was doing when he allegedly had sex with the woman.
The Prosecutor claims the victim drank eight shots of 180-proof Vodka, and her blood alcohol content was 0.36.
According to a medical expert, the woman was in a coma and physically helpless. She could do nothing, the Prosecutor said, to stop Jones from having sex with her at that party.
"You'll see the defendant laughing and the victim unresponsive," the Prosecutor said. "She had no memory of what happened that night, 'til she woke up on the couch."
Jones' defense lawyer, Earl Gray, insists that's all wrong. He's out to prove that his client never had sex with the woman, but did, in fact, perform sex acts on the woman.
Gray told the jurors, the victim requested that Jones perform a sex act.
He went on to say that the victim was even "laughing" about it later. Those sex acts, Gray says, were consensual.
"Nine condoms were seized from that room. None have my client's sperm, and the expert will tell you that," Gray said.
The trial will continue Thursday morning.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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