XENIA — A Greene County jury is out for deliberation in the trial involving two Wilberforce University students and an accusation of rape.
Twelve will decide the fate of what became a “he said- she said” case; testimony ended in the afternoon after the defendant, 20-year-old Myron Walker, took the stand.
“Did she say ‘no’?” Defense Attorney Travis Kane asked him.
“Not at all,” Walker responded from the witness chair.
“Is she pushing you off?” Kane asked.
“No,” Walker said.
“Is she scratching you?” Kane asked.
“No,” he replied.
“Is she fighting you?” Kane asked.
“No,” he said.
“Is she crying?” Kane asked.
“No,” Walker said.
“Did she yell for help?” Kane asked.
“No,” he responded.
“Is there any indication it was something she did not want?” Kane continued.
“No,” Walker replied.
Walker testified that the allegations were “a shock” and “totally false” — and that the sexual relations between the two teenagers on Jan. 22, 2017 in a Xenia home were consensual.
His last words before he stepped down from the stand were: “I’m not a rapist.”
But according to Assistant Prosecuting Attorney David Morrison, the sex that day was not consensual.
“She keeps saying, ‘No, I don’t want this.’ You heard her testify,” Morrison said to the jury during closing arguments. “She’s scared; she doesn’t know what to do … What was going through her head? : ‘He won.’ So she turned her head and cried.”
Kane argued that there was plenty of evidence to show consent in the case — enough for the jury to reach two “not guilty” verdicts for rape and Gross Sexual Imposition.
“She wants to portray Myron Walker as some violent predator to you — and, I think, to herself. She wants to portray to you that he lured her there with the intent of doing this against her will … She’s trying to show you a different version of events to suit her story.”
Kane ticked off one by one various discrepancies between Walker’s testimony and the woman’s testimony. Different details, he said, were left out of her story, or simply didn’t make any sense when added up.
Morrison pointed out to the jury that [Victim] has been telling her story for over a year. That adds up to more than 20 times, [Victim] estimated the day prior on the stand.
“I’m sorry. You heard her say it — she didn’t consent to that. I don’t know what else to say,” Morrison said, pacing in front of the jury, often using his hands to tell the story.
During closing, Kane brought up another argument.
“You know what I think really happened?” he asked the jury rhetorically. “I think she probably felt regret. I think from that point on, because she felt regret that she did it, I think she psychologically manipulated herself to convince herself Myron is a predator.”
Morrison rebutted.
“You didn’t hear from a psychologist today,” he said. “It’s just almost unbelievable.”
Others testified Jan. 24, too: a forensic examiner who examined [Victim] after the alleged assault, several law enforcement officials from Xenia Police Department and the Greene County Sheriff’s Office, as well as a few individuals close to Walker.
If the jury does not reach verdicts tonight, Jan. 24, they’ll go back to the courthouse in the morning to continue deliberating.
