Trial for Warrick County deputy accused of rape continues Tuesday
EVANSVILLE — Attorneys representing Jarred Stuckey, a Warrick County Sheriff's Office deputy standing trial for rape, sexual battery and other alleged offenses in Evansville, went on the offensive Tuesday as they sought to discredit the victim during a lengthy cross examination.
Evansville police arrested Stuckey, 37, in December 2022 after a woman came forward and told police Stuckey had sexually assaulted her in the backseat of a parked vehicle on Evansville's East Side. Stuckey quickly posted bond, secured his release and pleaded not guilty to a raft of sex crime charges.
The Warrick County Sheriff's Office later suspended Stuckey without pay.
A jury trial in the case got underway Monday after Magistrate Ryan C. Reed, of the Vanderburgh County Circuit Court, ruled on a flurry of pretrial motions. The Vanderburgh County Prosecutor's Office, led by Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Susan Wilkie and attorney Kim Ottili, hopes to convict Stuckey on seven counts:
Two counts of attempted rape, a Level 1 felony
Two counts of rape, a Level 1 felony
Sexual battery, a Level 4 felony
Strangulation, a Level 6 felony
Intimidation, a Level 6 felony
Evansville Police Department Detective Rob Waller led the investigation. In a probable cause affidavit, Waller stated an officer was dispatched to Deaconess Gateway Hospital on Dec. 3, 2022, to complete a "sensitive incident report."
A woman reportedly told hospital staff and police she had been sexually assaulted the evening prior by Stuckey - whom she had known for five or six years - after the pair met outside an Evansville hotel. The assault allegedly occurred inside a vehicle.
"Once in the backseat, she states he became aggressive and was forcefully kissing and touching her," Waller wrote in Stuckey's arrest affidavit. "She states during the next hour and a half he bit her, choked her..." Waller said the woman described a sexual attack that left her injured and in fear.
The woman testified at trial, telling jurors she did not understand that Stuckey's alleged actions constituted rape under Indiana law at the time of the incident. She was adamant that Stuckey had placed his hands around her neck and recalled in detail the pain she felt during and after the incident.
In response to a juror's question, the woman said Stuckey never verbally asked for her consent, and she denied ever stating verbally that she consented to having sex.
According to Stuckey's arrest affidavit, he told police in 2022 that he had kissed the victim but denied assaulting her.
Tuesday morning, before the court recessed for a lunch break, Stuckey's defense team cross examined the woman, at times pursuing lines of questioning that drew the ire of prosecutors.
In an effort to discredit the woman's testimony that Stuckey had subjected her to an hour-and-a-half-long attack, attorney Bob Zoss honed in on a lack of visible damage to the woman's clothing. The woman later said during trial that she had never told the police or hospital staff that Stuckey had ripped or torn her clothes.
Before an afternoon lunch break, Zoss also zeroed in on the woman's YouTube viewing history. One day after the alleged assault, the woman sent a "music video" to a family member, according to text messages unearthed during a deposition. Zoss told jurors that sending a music video spoke to the woman's "state of mind."
Prosecutors quickly lodged an objection, telling Reed that a YouTube music video had little to do with the issue at hand. Reed overruled the objection and allowed Zoss to continue his line of questioning.
Tuesday afternoon, jurors heard testimony from EPD Crime Scene Detective Gentry about the state of the victim's vehicle, which Gentry examined several days after the alleged assault. During a brief recess, Wilkie told the Courier & Press she expected the evidentiary portion of the trial to continue through Wednesday.
Stuckey may testify in his own defense, according to a list of witnesses and exhibits his attorneys submitted to the court last week.
This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Jarred Vance Stuckey Warrick County Deputy Rape Trial Continues
