Testimony continued on June 1 with John Doe #1 testifying in alleged rapist Darrius Upshaw trial.
Before his testimony, there were arguments on a defense motion in limine about text messages. Judge Kelly Neel had addressed this previously and deferred a ruling.
Judge Neel had previously asked Deputy District Attorney Carolyn whether these text messages were related to John Doe #1 or John Doe #2.
Judge Neel summarized the crux of the case. She asked Mr. Russ Clanton that her understanding was that defense is not denying the alleged acts occurred but whether the "actions are consensual. Mr. Clanton responded that Judge Neel was correct.
Ms. Schaffer argued that " prior to and during the sexual assault of both John Doe #1 and John Doe #2, a variety of texts" were sent by Upshaw to other individuals about "pricing of an act".
Ms. Schaffer said Upshaw was "soliciting sex workers for the opportunity to perform oral sex on them."
"The defendant was having difficulty paying his mortgage but willing to pay someone for this act," said Ms. Schaffer. It showed a need; a compulsion."
Today, she granted Mr. Russ Clanton's motion and said the specific messages would not be admitted into evidence.
Everyone involved in the alleged incident has moved out, according to John Doe #1 so starting with this post, the address 538 G street will be used.
It is one of two houses owned by Chi Phi. On May 18 there was a wine and cheese event at 538 G street. Upshaw lived at the house. He was Epsilon and had authority to discipline fraternity members. This corroborates the testimony by previous witnesses.
John Doe drove to house and arrived at the party at 6 p.m. He started drinking around 7 p.m., had three or four glasses of wine, started feeling disoriented and inebriated, did not want to drive home and fell asleep on the couch.
John Doe #1 said he was wearing khaki pants, a buttoned up shirt, green overcoat and leather shoes.
John Doe #1 remembers "waking up at three or five o' clock in the morning." He was on the couch "with my pants slightly down"; his underwear was "pulled down."
"A presence was on top.of me. Somebody was on me. That was my initial reaction. It wasn't their weight. I woke up to someone performing fellatio on me."
"I woke up with their mouth on my penis. I was not erect. I can't give how much I was (erect)." John Doe #1 said his penis was inside Upshaw's mouth.
"I didn't move. I played dead as if I was still sleeping. This continued for 40 minutes." John Doe #1 said he knew who it was "when they moved away."
Upshaw got up, sat in a chair, watched porn on his cell phone, masturbated and "ejaculated on my face."
John Doe said he was unsure when he opened his eyes but it was after the person finished performing fellatio. He took a peek and saw it was Upshaw.
John Doe #1 said he could hear porn on the cell.phone. He estimated Upshaw watched porn for 10 minutes. When Ms. Schaffer asked how John Doe #1 knew Upshaw was masturbating, John Doe #1 said "there was noise." He described it as "clapping."
John Doe said his eyes were closed when Upshaw ejaculated on his right cheek. He said it was ejaculate because of the "smell." There was a blanket. Upshaw wiped the ejaculate off with that blanket.
"I remember them walking upstairs, then I grabbed what was mine, made a run for the front door." John Doe #1 got in the car and drove to his home in Eureka.
Ms. Schaffer asked John Doe #1 how "he felt emotionally when he first woke up."
"Panic," he responded. "I did not know what to do in that situation. The panic continued. It ended when I made a break for the door and got in my car."
After John Doe arrived home, he "jumped in the shower. I was in there for 20 minutes. I just sat in the bathroom crying. I never expected something like this would happen to me."
Ms. Schaffer asked if he looked in the mirror and he said he did not notice anything. He said he scrubbed his face in the shower.
John Doe corroborated that "if you fall asleep on the couch, it is a green light to draw on your face." He had not seen the video by William Blohm.
He got home "around 4:30/5 a.m." Later that night I talked to my big Julio." John Doe #1 explained what big means in a fraternity. They discussed "telling the police, Raul and the nationals. " A police report was filed the next day.
John Doe #2' big is Sebastian.
John Doe #1 did a pretext via text and Snapchat that was at APD Sgt. Chris Ortega behest. Upshaw did not respond.
During cross examination by Mr. Clanton, there was some information that may be relevant regarding People's witness William Blohm but as usual, Mr. Clanton moved around and was hard to hear and he wasted a lot of time on information that was not relevant to the alleged charges. He did not impeach or affect John Doe #1 or any other witness' credibility today.
I am going to include the information irrelevant to the charges in this case lengthy because it is important and it shows that HSU has an unadressed issue with off campus events, alcohol, racism, homophobia and not being transparent about allegations and incidents which would obviously affect recruitment. A lot of APD time and resources spent on court cases and incidents that are HSU related. How does this impact the rest of Arcata?
The dismissive and fraternity attitude towards women when John Doe#1 was talking about memes is concerning and disturbing given that he is the alleged victim of rape in this case. It does not negate what allegedly happened to him but you would think that after his own alleged experience, he would not sit there defending ,the boys will be boys attitude.
Chi Phi at HSU was suspended due to COVID 19 violations. When Mr. Clanton asked if there was any suspension due to racist rhetoric towards Upshaw, John Doe #1 said the fraternity wasnot suspended "but there was an incident with one of the brothers." That fraternity member was Blohm.
John Doe #1 was "informed" of this incident "after the fact." He did not see the video of Blohm "uttering racial epithets" at Upshaw.
John Doe said his fraternity nickname was "Brittany."
John Doe said he communicated via text or Snapchat and admitted he sent a meme of Mulan to Upshaw with "white rice dripping out of her mouth."
"Did it imply semen dripping out of her mouth?" asked Mr. Clanton.
"Yes, it was a dirty joke," said John Doe #1.
John Doe #1 added that he sent memes to all his friends. The meme was not "personally directed" at Upshaw. The memes were not "always sexually charged."
The Mulan meme was a result of prior conversations. "Everyone was sitting on the couch, joking about sexual interactions."
John Doe #1 denied there were any memes of the N word or faggot on Chi Phi Snapchat. He also said he never heard Blohm use the word faggot.
Doe said faggot was not used in a derogatory way but more "in familiarity." Using the movie Gran Torino as an example. John Doe #1 said to him faggot means ignorance. John Doe #1 said, "I have never used the term faggot."
He said he did not hear faggot often but heard it "three or four times in random moments on river days or hikes. We use it as name calling between friends."
John Doe said he and a close friend often call each other "sons of bitches. When we say it to each other, it is not hurtful."
John Doe said he had heard the N word "used commonly among African American and Latino fraternity members."
Previous posts (jury trial coverage):
https://johnchiv.blogspot.com/2021/05/snapchat-fraternity-rituals-preference.html?m=1
https://johnchiv.blogspot.com/2021/05/person-who-took-video-of-john-doe-1s.html?m=1#more
https://johnchiv.blogspot.com/2021/05/i-had-never-heard-of-another-brother.html?m=1
https://johnchiv.blogspot.com/2021/05/hsu-chi-phi-unofficial-event-with.html?m=1
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