Jury to resume deliberations in Iowa assault trial

[January 19, 2011]  IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) -- Jurors deliberating the sexual abuse case of a former University of Iowa football player must decide whether to believe the woman who says she never consented to sexual intercourse or the defense attorneys who claim she drank so much that she simply could not remember.

Both sides agree that the woman went out drinking in October 2007 before ending up in an empty dorm room, where two football players had sex with her before she woke up covered in blood. The woman claims she did not consent to sexual intercourse with either player.

Jurors will resume deliberating Wednesday in the third-degree sexual abuse trial of former Iowa football player Cedric Everson, who faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted. HIs former teammate, Abe Satterfield, reached a deal with prosecutors and testified at Everson's trial.

Prosecutor Anne Lahey told jurors during closing arguments Tuesday that Everson snuck in the room and committed a "stealth assault" on the woman while she was asleep or passed out after Satterfield had forced intercourse with her.

The woman testified that she performed oral sex on Satterfield to try to avoid intercourse, but he held her down and ignored her pleas to stop. She said she woke up the next morning naked and covered in blood with Satterfield in the bed next to her. She said she didn't know for weeks that Everson was involved.

Lahey told jurors that Satterfield and Everson "traded places" while the woman was asleep. Everson came in the room, told Satterfield to get out of bed, lifted her leg and had intercourse with her before leaving and telling Satterfield to get back in bed to cover up his actions, she said.

Even if jurors believe Satterfield's testimony that her sex with him was consensual, the woman never consented to sex with Everson, Lahey said.

"Football is and should be a team sport. Sexual assault is not," she said.

Everson's defense attorney, Leon Spies, told jurors the woman had been drinking that night but witnesses who saw her around the dormitory said she wasn't acting drunk. He said she doesn't remember many details of the night, including having sex with his client.

"(Her) purposeful, voluntary actions shows she was in a functional blackout much of that night. She was able to walk, talk, communicate, laugh, run, without any memory of it," Spies said in his closing argument. "Amnesia does not mean helpless," he repeated twice.

Spies acknowledged testimony from a witness who saw his client go in the dorm room with condoms, but he noted semen recovered from the woman the next day that matched Everson's DNA proves he did not use protection.

"What that evidence demonstrates is there was sexual activity that was hurried, that was passionate, and that was without the opportunity to use a condom," he said. He said his client made "bad decisions" that would affect him his whole life but did not commit a crime.

The closing arguments came after Judge Paul Miller threw out the most serious charge against Everson: second-degree sexual abuse, which carried a maximum penalty of up to 25 years in prison. He said he found "insufficient evidence" that Everson was aided and abetted by Satterfield and jurors should not be allowed to consider that charge.

He instructed jurors to consider Everson's guilt on third-degree sexual abuse, assault with intent to commit sex abuse and assault charges.

Satterfield pleaded guilty to assault with intent to inflict injury under his plea deal. He testified that the woman was "the aggressor" and that he got out of the bed in the middle of the night after Everson came in the room and tapped him on the shoulder. But he said he had no idea what Everson and the woman did because he fell back asleep, and he and Everson had no deal to trade places.

Both players were suspended from the Iowa team days after the assault and later transferred to other schools, as did the woman.

[Associated Press; By RYAN J. FOLEY]

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