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Accuser testifies

'It took me a while to realize what was going on.'

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Posted: Wednesday July 21, 1999 09:37 PM

CHRISTIANSBURG, Va. (AP) -- A woman who accused San Francisco 49ers reserve quarterback Jim Druckenmiller of rape testified Wednesday that she passed out in a bed and awoke to find him having sex with her.

The prosecution rested its case after the testimony by the 22-year-old Virginia Tech graduate.

The accuser testified that she vaguely remembered a friend putting her to bed after a night of drinking in March. She passed out and awoke to find Druckenmiller on top of her, she said.

"What was he doing?" asked Peggy Frank, a Montgomery County assistant commonwealth's attorney.

"Having sex," the woman replied. "It took me a while to realize what was going on. I was disoriented. I had no idea where I was."

The woman, who showed little emotion during her testimony, said she got dressed afterward, felt scared and wanted to go home. She declined Druckenmiller's offer of a ride and called a male friend to come and get her, she said.

Under cross-examination, the woman said she did not recall kissing Druckenmiller earlier in the evening or telling him she loved him and wanted to have sex with him. She did not recall taking her clothes off in the room.

"Do you remember saying yes when Jim asked you about your promise that you had made earlier, if you two could still have fun?" asked Deborah Caldwell-Bono, the defense attorney. The woman said she did not recall.

The rape charge against Druckenmiller resulted from a night of partying by the athlete and a group of friends and his accuser and some of her friends. Druckenmiller, a Virginia Tech graduate, and the others went to two bars and ended up at a party at a Blacksburg house.

Several witnesses testified for the defense Wednesday that the woman was flirting with Druckenmiller hours before the alleged attack. Three men who know Druckenmiller said they heard the woman say she wanted to have sex with him that night.

But the woman said she was "just talking to him."

Page Verlander, a sexual assault nurse examiner called by the defense, testified that she believes the sex between the accuser and Druckenmiller was consensual.

She noted that the woman was completely undressed and her underwear was intact. Based on her experience treating unresponsive patients in emergency rooms, she said, it would be "extremely difficult" for one person to fully undress someone who is passed out.

Cindy Barnette, a nurse who examined the alleged victim, testified Tuesday that the woman filed charges after being told that rape examinations cost $1,800 for people who do not file charges but are free for women who take the case to prosecutors.

But the accuser testified that she told the nurse she had good medical insurance and her parents would not mind paying for the examination. The woman said she was concerned about the publicity that would follow if she went to police.

Druckenmiller, 26, faces five years to life in prison if convicted.

 

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