I don't know if I'll have the luxury of taking time off from work tomorrow to honor my duties as a taxpayer and observe day two of the John Edison rape trial, but let me just say that I'm dumber for having sat through the alleged victim's testimony today.
At opening statements, the asst. state's attorney, Julie White, argued that the alleged victim (who is now 13) was pulled into a bedroom and thrown onto the floor, at which point John Edison put his penis into her vagina and then flipped her over and put his penis "in her butt." (I honestly expected her to say "anus" or "rear end.")
Defense attorney Kevin McDevitt reminded the jury that they weren't there to determine whether or not sexual activity took place -- Edison freely admits that it did -- but whether he violently raped the girl anally and vaginally and beat her with a belt.
McDevitt also said that 200 to 300 million sperm are present in a normal ejaculate, and the jury will hear a DNA expert testify that he found something like nine. He also said that a Maryland State Police chemist would say that we lose a million skin cells a day, and that 4.5 nanograms were found on the girl -- about the same amount that would present if you touched your spouse or your child.
Most important, McDevitt stated that the jury would hear testimony from a forensics nurse who found absolutely no injuries to the little girl -- no fractures, lacerations, gynecological injuries, or even mere abrasions, which microscopic tools failed to find.
When White called the girl as the first witness, we learned that her birthday is Oct. 25, that she is 13, and that she lives in Lexington Park, Maryland. White asked the girl to explain what happened and she essentially repeated what the prosecutor noted moments before in her opening statement, stating a couple times the seemingly well-rehearsed phrase that John "tried to force his penis into my vagina."
Upon McDevitt's cross, the girl said she didn't know her house address (she "forgot") and couldn't even tell the court how long she's lived at her current residence. She did know her age and grade in school, at least.
When Edison's attorney then asked her if she knew what "under oath" meant, the girl asked, "under age?," at which point McDevitt informed her that it meant she had to tell the truth. McDevitt next asked her if she would scoot toward the microphone so the jury and courtroom could hear her better, and she did so reluctantly while rolling her eyes.
Have a good picture of what we were all dealing with?
In an effort to avoid totally confusing the reader, I'm going to refrain from giving a blow by blow account of this girl's testimony, which for two-plus hours consisted of contradictions to original statements to police and apparent outright lies on the stand -- even if the only lie was that she was violently raped by John Edison.
So here's the Cliff Notes version. The girl said her day on July 4 consisted of going to her aunt's house with a friend -- the friend I noted yesterday in my LRC piece -- and they watched fireworks. She admitted to hanging out with John Edison and her friend at John's house before John's friend arrived. She also admitted to being out from midnight to 3:30 a.m. unsupervised. She then said she was dragged into the bedroom and raped about three minutes after John's friend got to the house (around 4:00 a.m.).
Specifically, this girl said she was dragged down the hallway while the other boy and girl were on the couch in the living room, and that the two friends did nothing to stop it. She then said John pushed her on the bed gently, at which point McDevitt pointed out that her statement to police indicated she was pushed onto the floor, and there was a good 10 minutes of discussion about if/when the bedroom door was shut. The witness also couldn't recall how long this alleged rape took place -- she settled on saying it was somewhere between five minutes and one hour.
Tellingly, the girl then admitted she didn't scream, yell, or do anything when asked by McDevitt, and acknowledged that there were no marks on her after she was allegedly dragged down the hallway. Even weirder, when McDevitt asked whether she was scared during this entire ordeal, she said, "not really."
At this point we broke for lunch, and after the trial resumed the girl said that John really didn't "hit" her with the belt but "tapped" her, "playing around" and "laughing." She said it "didn't hurt much." Moreover, McDevitt also got the witness to admit that she in fact did not scratch Edison at all during this alleged rape, something she is on record telling the police mere hours after everything transpired. When McDevitt asked her if she remembered telling police officers that she scratched him, she said no. There was lot of "I can't remember" and "I don't know" today.
McDevitt also played about a minute's worth of a taped discussion with police in which the girl told police that John called his friend to tell him to come over to do the "same thing" (rape) to her friend. (Recall that the girl had already told the court that John's friend was already at the house when the alleged rape occurred.)
McDevitt then read a statement from the girl to the nurse that she wasn't sure whether Edison's penis went in her anus, but she told the court today that it went "halfway in." When McDevitt asked her if she was lying to the nurse then, the girl rolled her eyes and said, "whatever." The question in my mind at this point was: If Edison's penis was halfway in the girl's vagina or anus (or something to that extent), how could this possibly account for a "violent rape?"
In a nutshell, what I considered the most striking thing was this girl's complete indifference even to being at the trial today, or to describing the supposed course of events from this alleged rape. She never once got upset describing the actions of Edison, and only started showing any emotion or frustration once she realized McDevitt was pointing out all her prevarication and lies to either police or the court.
The day ended with the nurse on the stand admitting she found no physical evidence at all suggesting this girl was the victim of assault, and certainly not the "violent rape" the state alleges. McDevitt successfully showed the court that this girl hung out with Edison for at least a couple hours after this alleged rape occurred, and that the four kids were together outside when the girl's mom finally came to pick her up on the morning of July 5.
One would think that if a girl was violently raped and beaten with a belt, she'd be able to remember the course of events to at least a minimal extent. The girl's testimony smacked of lie after lie, while the state's prosecutor could only challenge McDevitt's testimony by asking the girl to admit that she told Edison "no" when he was allegedly having forced intercourse with her.
I've learned never to take anything for granted anymore, especially where the state is concerned, but from what I witnessed today you'd have to reflexively believe a mere accusation of rape is proof enough of a man's guilt to convict this kid.
I know you can't count on justice where the government is concerned, but if there was even a shred apparent in this case, the prosecution would have risen to request the state drop all charges upon reconvening after lunch.
Thankfully for Edison, his family, and his attorney, it looks like they'll only have to hope the members of the jury retain merely a shred of common sense.