Defendant in rape trial takes stand, testifies sex was consensual
Defendant LJ Harris on Thursday gave jurors his side of the story regarding a 20-year-old rape case.
Harris, 43, is charged with two counts of rape and single counts of attempted rape and felonious assault on Aug. 29, 2004.
The cold case came back to life in spring 2023 when there was a hit on a national database that contains DNA profiles of convicted offenders.
Harris took the witness stand in Richland County Common Pleas Court, testifying that he had consensual sex with the accuser.
Following closing arguments, the six-man, six-woman jury got the case a little before 3 p.m. and deliberated for more than two hours without reaching a verdict. Jurors will be back at 9 a.m. Friday.
On direct examination by defense attorney Jennifer Harmon, Harris said he couldn't believe it when he talked to Mansfield police Sgt. Jered Kingsborough about the allegations.
"Where is this coming from? It just blew my mind," Harris said. "I never sexually assaulted anyone in my life."
He said he did not meet Kingsborough right away on the advice of an attorney.
More: Rape trial gets underway 20 years after alleged incident
Defendant denies driving car described by accuser
The accuser said Harris was driving a white Lexus with gold trim on the night in question.
Harris said he owned a blue Chevrolet Malibu at the time.
"I was on my way to get something to eat," he said, adding it was around 9 or 10 p.m. The accuser said he picked her up after midnight.
Harris said the woman was naked when she flagged him down.
"She said she got into a fight with her husband, but they weren't really together," Harris said. "We rode around for about 20 minutes, just being flirtatious with each other. It became a little sexual. It all happened so fast."
Harris said they pulled over and had intercourse in the back seat of the car. He denied having anal sex. Semen recovered from the back of the woman's leg matched Harris' DNA profile, a police DNA technician testified earlier.
The likelihood the semen was from someone else was 1 in 307 billion, the technician said.
Harris said the woman asked him to pay her $40 for the sex, but he refused and offered to drop her off where he picked her up.
According to testimony from a sexual assault nurse examiner, the woman suffered tears to her vagina and anus.
"I did not not force her to do anything. I never caused any type of injury to this woman," Harris said before becoming emotional.
"It's the worst thing that ever happened to me in my life," he said.
He pointed to his stepmother and his fiancee in the gallery and said he was raised to respect women.
Assistant prosecutor questions Harris on cross-examination
On cross-examination by Assistant Prosecutor Olivia Boyer, Harris intimated the injuries could have been caused by the accuser's estranged husband. She testified that she woke up with her husband on top of her, wanting to have sex. Their dispute led to her walking away from his apartment.
"Then why is your semen on the anal swab?" Boyer asked him.
"I don't believe my semen was on the anal swab," Harris replied.
According to the exam, the woman also had tenderness to the back of her head. She testified that Harris repeatedly punched her there.
On recross, testimony became contentious with Harris repeatedly telling Boyer he already had answered her questions.
"You're trying to twist my words the way you want me to answer, and I'm not going to do that," he said.
Common Pleas Judge Brent Robinson interjected, "You're going to have to stop talking, and you're going to have to start answering questions."
Harris later apologized to the judge.
In her closing argument, Boyer said the accuser's story has been consistent all along.
"For 20 years, she has had to live with the repercussions of what happened," Boyer said.
The woman identified Harris from a photo array presented to her by Kingsborough, who has been with the city police department for 17 years.
"He told you that he will never forget her reaction," Boyer said.
Harris' DNA profile matched evidence recovered from woman's body
Boyer said vaginal and anal tears the woman suffered were consistent with rape and referenced the hit on Harris' DNA profile on a national database.
"Thank God for this DNA," Boyer said. "Without this DNA, we don't have a photo lineup."
She asked the jury who was more credible between the accuser and Harris and referenced her back-and-forth sparring with the defendant.
"When you ask someone who is lying the same questions over and over, the story changes," Boyer said. "One thing and one thing only explains all the evidence, that back on Aug. 29 (2004), (the accuser) was raped by LJ Harris."
In her closing argument, Harmon came up with a scenario for what might have happened, focusing on the woman's estranged husband, who died in 2007.
"She knew he was abusive. She told you all that she woke up with him on top of her," Harmon said. "I don't know how physical it got."
Harmon speculated that the estranged husband kicked the accuser out of his apartment on the night in question.
"She is angry at her husband," Harmon said. "She got in the car with a good-looking guy. Maybe that gave her an idea."
Harmon said the accuser doesn't remember "significant" details about the case and blocked out the part about anal sex for five years.
"One of the biggest question marks is why. Why, after 20 years, did she want to pursue this?" Harmon asked. In 2004, the woman did not want police involved.
In her rebuttal argument, Boyer described Harmon's closing as a "spaghetti argument."
"Throw it against a wall and hope something sticks," she said.
Boyer questioned why, if the woman's estranged husband roughed her up, she would then hook up with Harris.
"That put her in the mood to have consensual sex? That's not reasonable," Boyer said.
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This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Mansfield OH man accused of 2004 rape testifies sex was consensual
