Ex-U player's trial: 2nd day of high drama in store

The judge and the defense attorney were at each other before jury selection. A key witness is so beset by fears she spent the night in the Hennepin County jail rather than a hotel. And many of the statements being made in court cannot be published in a family newspaper.

From beginning to end, Wednesday's opening act of the sexual assault trial of former University of Minnesota football star Dominic Jones delivered drama.

It is a high-stakes trial for both sides. Jones, 21, was a gifted three-sport athlete and National Honor Society member at his high school in Columbus, Ohio. Booted off the Gophers football team after he was charged, he is on track to graduate after the next fall semester at the university. Although four other players were present and kicked off the team, he was the only person charged in the incident by Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman's office.

By the afternoon Wednesday, the lawyers had settled on a jury of nine men and five women, including two alternates. But before starting, prosecutors wanted District Court Judge Marilyn Rosenbaum to settle the circumstances of Laquisha Malone's testimony.

Malone, who was with her best friend the night Jones allegedly attacked the woman in a University Village apartment, wanted to testify on videotape.

Malone's lawyers, Craig Boone and F. Clayton Tyler, argued that she has a panic disorder and agoraphobia. Boone said he thinks that Malone will be a "good" prosecution witness, but that it is "virtually impossible for her to testify in open court."

Malone suffered a panic attack Tuesday evening during a car ride and opted to stay in the jail rather than take an elevator at a downtown hotel, he said. He said she could testify on video with the judge, her staff, lawyers and the defendant in the room.

Rosenbaum pressed him on the nature of Malone's problems.

Boone said: "She doesn't like small spaces. She doesn't like big spaces and she doesn't like people."

Defense lawyer Earl Gray countered: "A lot of people have anxiety when they're subpoenaed to testify."

Rosenbaum said Malone's problems didn't meet the threshold for mental illness or video testimony. She made one accommodation. For Malone's testimony, the judge will temporarily move the trial from her 19th-floor courtroom to the third floor. She will testify in open court before the jury and the public, Rosenbaum said.

The incident

The incident started the evening of April 3 when the alleged victim and Malone were taken by Robert McField, Malone's boyfriend, to the apartment that he shared with Keith Massey, E.J. Jones, and Alex Daniels.

Next the woman, who Gray said was wearing a red blouse, jeans and high heels, began a vodka-drinking contest with McField. Malone started but dropped out.

Assistant Hennepin County attorney Marlene Senechal said the woman became extremely intoxicated with a blood-alcohol level of at least 0.36 percent and was laid on a couch in the living room by McField. McField and Malone went to his room, but he later came out and found Dominic Jones having sex with the woman, then masturbating over her while Daniels taped him on his cell phone.

The woman "was unconscious when Dominic Jones, a complete stranger to her, raped her," Senechal said. The woman's eyes were closed and she was unresponsive, Senechal said, adding unprintable details of what prosecutors allege occurred.

Gray, however, said McField told his investigator that he never saw Jones have sex with the woman. He also said the woman was an experienced and frequent drinker who was up and talking when Jones arrived. The woman asked Jones to perform the sex act and he did, Gray said.

In the 30-second video, Jones is straddling her and did masturbate over her and her eyes were shut, Gray said. But he said there was no evidence of vaginal penetration.

Nine used condoms were found in the apartment, but none had his client's DNA, Gray said.

After the incident, the woman got up, wiped off her face and walked back to the couch, where she was the next morning, Gray said.

McField is in Missouri serving a 12-year sentence for armed robbery, something he didn't tell the Gophers about when they recruited him. He was back in Minnesota, after being sentenced, when this incident occurred.

"The only evidence they have is a convicted felon who changed his story twice, is doing 12 years in a Missouri prison and hoping for some benefit," Gray said.

Gray was not allowed to tell the jury that the woman had sex with three other players that night -- a ruling by Rosenbaum that angered him. All the men were kicked off the team.

"It's impossible to defend this case without explaining why he was there and why he was doing what he was doing," Gray said to the judge, later adding, "You're stopping me from defending my client. I've never had this happen to me in 38 years."

Testimony resumes at 9 a.m. today.

Rochelle Olson • 612-673-1747