Witness faces more questions in Jones rape trial

Update: Testimony by prosecution witness Robert McField in the rape trial of former Gopher star Dominic Jones has ended and Jones has taken the stand to testify.

Earlier:

Prosecutors focused on alcohol consumption and DNA, while the defense got another crack at shaking a key witness today in the rape trial of former University of Minnesota football star Dominic Jones.

Defense lawyer Earl Gray persistently asked Hennepin County District Court Judge Marilyn Rosenbaum to allow him to recall former player Robert McField to the stand for further questioning about his armed robbery conviction. Previously, Rosenbaum allowed a single question from prosecutors: Whether McField had an unspecified conviction, to which he replied yes.

Tuesday she relented. McField is serving a 12-year sentence in Missouri for armed robberies. The former Gophers player has appeared in court twice in a black suit, rather than a prison uniform. Jurors have been led from the room so they do not see McField escorted in and out through the back door by sheriff's deputies.

McField is a crucial prosecution witness. He is the only person to testify that he saw Jones on top of the victim appearing to have sex. McField said he did not see actual penetration, which is important to a conviction. He said he did see Jones masturbate over the woman.

The entire episode occurred April 3, 2007, when McField and E.J. Jones went to pick up two 18-year-old women, Laquisha Malone and the alleged victim. The four returned to a University Village room shared by McField, E.J. Jones, Alex Daniels and Keith Massey, all now former players.

Under questioning from Assistant Hennepin County Attorney Martha Holton Dimick, McField outlined his legal troubles. He was arrested for armed robbery on Sept. 25, 2005, and was released on bail a month later. He enrolled at the U in 2006 and pleaded guilty to second-degree armed robbery in Missouri on March 23, 2007. He was allowed to return to Minnesota before heading to Missouri for sentencing June 4 and then prison.

The prosecutor asked whether his status on bail gave him any incentive to lie to police in April 2007. McField said no. In exchange for his testimony, prosecutors have previously said he was not charged with providing alcohol to a minor.

But Gray pounced in one of his more emotional cross-examinations of the trial. He asked McField multiple times whether the Missouri judge told him to remain law-abiding while out on bail and awaiting his plea and sentencing.

He quoted from McField's earlier testimony in this case, asking, "When you told the fellas you had limited options, is this what you were referring to?"

McField said no, not specifically.

Gray asked, "Did your lawyer also tell you you had to cooperate?" McField said his lawyer told him to tell the truth. Gray persisted, "Did he tell you you had to give truthful statements to police?" McField said, yes.

Gray said, "You didn't did you? You lied twice."

McField initially told police the woman actively participated in sex with Jones, then changed his story at trial last week.

Gray continued on asking about the last April 3, "And you feel in your mind this is an incident you had nothing to do with?" McField said no.

"You bought the alcohol, didn't you?" Gray asked. Prosecutors objected and McField did not answer.

Smith gave a Power Point presentation showing that the woman would have had a blood alcohol level from .28 percent to .43 percent in the immediate hours after consumption. She would have been nonresponsive and in a coma or stupor, he said.

He also testified that alcohol is the "most common agent" of "drug-facilitated sexual assault."

He noted that the time of consumption and the time of the alleged attack -- 2:50 a.m. -- would enhance the numbing effects of alcohol. Given that McField weighed more than twice as much as the victim, it is "clear he would not be nearly as intoxicated as she was," Smith said.

Also, Alyssa Bance, a forensic scientist at the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, testified about DNA. Of seven condoms tested from the apartment, only the outside of one was a possible match for Jones' genetic material, but not his sperm. She testified a spot on the woman's shirt was a match for his sperm. He was among 20 percent of the population that couldn't be excluded as a match for the crotch of the woman's jeans.