La Plata, MD – It’s a case of “he said, she said,” but who is telling the truth?
That’s what a Charles County Circuit Court jury has to decide in the case of Joseph Lawrence Higgs III, 22 of Newburg, who is facing second-degree rape charges before Judge Helen I. Harrington in La Plata.
Charles County Assistant State’s Attorney Sarah K. Freeman argued that Feb. 14, 2015, the victim could not be with her boyfriend for Valentine’s Day. He is an EMT with the Washington, D C Fire Department. She made plans, Freeman said, to meet a female friend at Carabas. Both the victim in the case and her female friend are minors.
Her friend and the defendant began talking and before long, the two women and two men were heading to a party with two six packs of Mike’s Lemonade, a bottle of vodka and a case of beer.
After the party, the two men were invited back to a house belonging to the father of one of the two girls.
“She told them, ‘my father’s not home, everyone can stay the night,’ ” Freeman said.
“The victim has already made it clear she has a boyfriend. She’s texting him, calling him—it’s Valentine’s Day and he can’t be with her because he is has to work.”
At the house, they end up doing “show after shot after shot” of vodka. The victim’s friend vomits in the kitchen sink, more shots are poured. The victim’s female friend ends up passed out in the bathtub with the shower running.
“At this point the victim calls her boyfriend and tells him, ‘baby, I’m drunk. I need you,’” Freeman continued. “He tells her he is working a call.
“While she’s on the phone with him, he can hear her saying, ‘stop, leave me alone,’” she added. “At one point the defendant pulls out his penis, she tells him ‘No. Stop.’
“She pushes him off of her and tells him to leave her alone. She goes to check on her friend in the bathtub, and then goes back into the bedroom. The defendant attempts to have intercourse with her, and again, she says, ‘no, leave me alone.’
“She wakes up the next morning to the defendant lying naked next to her in bed,” Freeman said. “Her pajama bottoms and the thong she was wearing tangled up in the sheets at the foot of the bed. The victim asks him ‘what the heck happened? Did we have sex?’ He said, ‘No. Yeah, it was good.’ She tells him, ‘I told you no.’ He said, ‘You acted like you wanted it.’”
Freeman said the victim also said the man told her she performed oral sex on him.
“She asked about a condom and he told her no,” Freeman stated. “He gave her $40 for a Plan B pill because she was upset she might be pregnant.”
The victim later tells her friend that she has “no memory of having sexual intercourse with Joey Higgs,” according to the prosecutor.
Freeman did tell the jury that the victim met her boyfriend the following night and they have sex. On Feb. 17, she told her sister and another family member about what happened and they told her she had to report it.
She said the state will prove that Higgs’ sperm was found on the woman’s thong.
Freeman admitted that “alcohol was way involved in this case.”
Defense Attorney James Farmer said his client is “foaming at the mouth to tell you what happened. “After you hear all of the evidence, you will find that there is no way the state can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Higgs committed a crime. There is no evidence, not a smidgen of evidence, that they had sexual intercourse.
“If you’re telling the truth, the story does not change,” he stated. “If you’re not telling the truth, the story changes.”
Farmer called the incident “buyer’s remorse,” saying the victim concocted the story because she didn’t want her boyfriend to find out she woke up in bed with another man.”
Harrington began the trial Wednesday, Dec. 9 with a stern warning to those in the gallery that although emotions were running high on both sides, viewers of the trial were expected to behave themselves.
“I understand there was an incident in the hallway yesterday [during jury selection],” she said. “Everyone is welcome to be present in the courtroom, however, that does require you to be on your best behavior. You cannot block the hallway, you cannot intimidate jurors. If you cannot follow those rules, if you are disturbing proceedings in the court room, you will be asked to leave.”
Contact Joseph Norris at joe.norris@thebaynet.com