A California man has been found guilty of Second-Degree Rape after a court trial that concluded Tuesday. Judge Michael Stamm imposed the verdict on Matthew Beard, 34. A pre-sentence investigation was ordered. Beard is facing a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
Beard was charged with raping a 25-year-old Leonardtown woman in the early morning hours of June 29 after the two left the ABC Lounge in the Hickory Hills Shopping Center in California. The two had originally met on an online dating site. According to testimony from the woman, they had sex on two previous occasions before Beard broke off the relationship.
Beard and the woman showed up at the ABC Lounge separately late on June 28. The woman testified that she texted Beard several times and arrangements were made for them to meet up in the parking lot after the bar closed.
The woman testified that she was too drunk to drive and gave Beard the keys to her car. According to the woman’s testimony Beard parked the car behind the Plaza Tolteca and during that time she drifted in and out of consciousness. She also testified that she gave him her bank card and pin number to get gas. Later she testified she discovered that no gas had been purchased and $300 was missing from her bank account.
The woman testified that later she was driven to what looked like a park. When she woke up he was having intercourse with her and then ejaculated on her face, she testified. She then later woke up in the car parked in front of a house in Lexington Park.
Beard did not testify. Instead his attorney Theodore Leblanc of Prince Frederick put on witnesses in an attempt to show is client acted badly that night, but didn’t rape the woman. He said in opening statements, “He may be a thief but he is not a rapist.” He put on a witness to show that Beard stole the money to buy drugs and that was his real mission that night.
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