By Jake Palmateer
COOPERSTOWN _ A former SUNY Oneonta student allegedly raped by a city man last May testified Tuesday that she felt safe until the moment she was attacked.
With composure on the stand, the woman detailed how Justin Gillingham, 24, of Oneonta, had made an advance earlier that night at his apartment, but she "leaned" away from his kiss and told him she had a boyfriend.
"I wasn't there to do that," the woman said, as she was questioned by District Attorney John Muehl on the events leading up to the alleged attack at about 2:40 a.m. May 16. That incident was on or near a path between the State University College at Oneonta campus and Clinton Street.
Gillingham is accused of first-degree rape, second-degree attempted murder and second-degree assault in connection with the alleged assault on the woman, who was then a 23-year-old senior at the State University College at Oneonta.
The case is being tried this week before state Supreme Court Justice Michael Coccoma at the Otsego County Courthouse.
The Daily Star does not disclose the identity of sexual-assault or alleged sexual-assault victims or any information that could easily identify them.
The woman's more than two hours of testimony came after four alternate jurors were selected in the morning to round out the 12-person jury chosen Monday. Two roommates of the alleged victim and their residential director at Higgins Hall also testified Tuesday about what they saw and heard that night.
Muehl said he expected to call local law enforcement and emergency workers to the stand today and expert witnesses Thursday. The trial is expected to last until Friday, and Rothermel said he intends to call Gillingham to the stand.
Cases laid out in opening statements
In his opening statement, Muehl said he will prove just two days before SUNY Oneonta's graduation, the woman was out celebrating with friends but left the Sake Club, a downtown bar, alone. It was then she was invited by Gillingham _ a man she had seen around town but had just met _ to smoke marijuana at his Cozy Avenue home, Muehl told the jury.
What started as a casual encounter ended in rape and a vicious assault after Gillingham rode with the student back to campus from his apartment to ensure she got home, Muehl said. Gillingham attacked the woman as she was showing him how to get back to Cozy Avenue, Muehl said.
"The defendant snaps. The next thing she knows, (she's) in a choke hold," Muehl said.
In his opening statement, Public Defender Richard "Otto" Rothermel said it was the student who approached Gillingham about smoking marijuana. Rothermel also said the student was later punched in the face by his client, but only after she bit his tongue as they were "making out" along the path.
The student had a .26 percent blood-alcohol content, Rothermel said, which is close to four times the legal limit for driving.
"Did you party much?" Rothermel asked the woman during cross-examination.
"Yes," she replied.
Much of Rothermel's cross-examination of the woman, the roommates and the residential director focused on the alleged victim's relationship with her boyfriend at the time _ when she may have broken up with him; when they may have gotten back together; and what may have prompted the temporary split.
The woman said she broke up with her boyfriend for about three days, the breakup coming a few weeks before the alleged attack. However, the roommates and the residential director each gave different versions of the breakup.
During his questioning of prospective jurors, Rothermel also asked them if it was possible for someone to lie about being raped and if jurors would have a problem convicting someone of an assault but not rape.
Woman details the night of the attack
On Tuesday, Muehl asked the woman to detail the alleged attack, and she pointed out Gillingham as her assailant.
The woman, who remained composed throughout her time on the stand, said she and her boyfriend had watched the movie "I Am Legend" at about 10 p.m. and then headed downtown to meet some of her friends. They found them at the Sake Club, but her boyfriend became separated from her and left to return to his room at Higgins Hall, she said.
As she was leaving, Gillingham and another man struck up a conversation with her, and Gillingham offered to get her high, she said.
They ended up at his apartment on Cozy Avenue, where they smoked a joint and socialized for a short time, according to all accounts heard so far.
The woman said she had four or five drinks between 10 p.m. and the alleged attack.
When she decided to leave, Gillingham took an interest in seeing she got home safely, the woman testified.
"I felt that I would be able to drive," the woman said. "He wanted to make sure that I was OK. I felt safe and that he was being sincere and that he would feel better about himself."
The attack occurred suddenly after they exited her car on campus and she was showing Gillingham where the path was, the woman testified.
Gillingham grabbed her by the neck and waist and dragged her, she said.
"He started bringing me backwards ... towards the woods," the woman said.
She said she blacked out momentarily, waking up on the ground with Gillingham on top of her, taking off her clothes.
"When I began to scream, he punched me in the face," she said.
She said she fought back but stopped and intentionally went limp after Gillingham tried to "snap" her neck three times.
He also threatened to kill her, she said.
After lying motionless for about a minute, Gillingham shifted his weight, and the woman was able to break free and run to Hilbert Hall, she testified.
The woman and Gillingham, who has a medium build, are both about 5-feet 8-inches tall. The woman was asked by Rothermel how much she weighs.
She replied 170 pounds.
There was a "minute or two" of penetration in an attack that lasted 5 to 6 minutes total, the woman testified.
The woman said she was punched about a dozen times and suffered cuts to her lip, a bloody nose, bumps on the back of her head, a swollen face, black eyes and nerve damage to three teeth, two of which were later removed.
Gillingham suffered scratches to his face and a cut to his right hand, Muehl said during his opening statement.
Although he previously told police he was attacked by the woman and four men, Gillingham made the story up to try and outsmart police, Rothermel said during his opening statement.
Gillingham turned himself into police later on the same day of the alleged attack, thinking he was going to be charged with assault, Rothermel said.
