2 sides clash in rape trial

PROVO — During emotional testimony Thursday, a teenage girl described in graphic detail how a group of former Brigham Young University football players allegedly raped her last August.

But defense attorneys for B.J. Mathis and Ibrahim Rashada said the sex was consensual — and that the sole witness who will testify otherwise is the teenage girl.

The Sandy teenager was the first witness in the trial of Mathis and Rashada, both 19, who are accused of raping the then-17-year-old. They are charged with aggravated sexual assault, dealing harmful material to a minor, furnishing alcohol to a minor and obstructing justice.

In opening statements, Deputy Utah County Attorney Dave Sturgill told the jury the girl passed out drinking vodka at the apartment of Mathis and Karland Bennett, two former BYU football players, on the evening of Aug. 8, 2004, and woke up to the terrifying realization that she was being raped by several men.

"She told them to stop," Sturgill said. "As her protests became louder one of the people in the room actually said, 'Shh. You're fine.' "

But defense attorneys painted an entirely different picture. They called the alleged victim "an enthusiastic participant" who voluntarily drank alcohol, watched pornography and had sex with several men.

"These are activities a lot of us find abhorrent. But the fact that it may be abhorrent, it may be immoral, doesn't make it illegal," said Rashada's lawyer, Dean Zabriskie. "The evidence will show that everything that happened that evening was consensual. The fact that it was regretted later doesn't make it nonconsensual."

Thursday marked the first time the alleged victim has spoken publicly about what she says happened last August. Her testimony was at times tearful and explicit.

The alleged victim, now 18, said she met a group of about eight football players at a Provo mall and agreed to visit them that evening at their off-campus apartment.

Soon after arriving at the apartment with her cousin, the Sandy girl said the players gave them alcohol and turned on a pornographic video. After some playful taunting from the men in the apartment, she consumed about 8 ounces of a drink she recognized as vodka.

Her cousin, a former basketball player at Snow College, said she told the men to turn off the video and then decided to leave to visit friends but promised to return shortly. The alleged victim decided to stay.

"She seemed fine," her cousin testified. "I told her, 'If you need anything, call me right away.' "