Ex-football player knew it was rape, detective testifies
A former Glenbard West High School football player told police a teenage girl he’s accused of raping didn’t want to have sex and “seemed a little scared,” a Rolling Meadows detective testified Tuesday.
The statements recounted by Detective Mike Fior corroborate testimony the girl, now 17, gave Monday regarding the events of Jan. 29, 2010, when she says she was raped by Demarco Whitley and by his teammate and friend Pierre Washington-Steel.
Whitley, 19, has been charged with criminal sexual assault, a felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison. Probation is also available.
His defense lawyers claim the sex was consensual.
Washington-Steel, an acquaintance of the girl, died from injuries he received in a single-car crash 80 minutes after the alleged sexual assault, in which Whitley also was injured.
Fior testified that he interviewed Whitley in February, and Whitley said that he and Washington-Steel picked the girl up at her home and parked in a nearby church parking lot.
Fior said Whitley told him he got into the back seat with the girl, and that Washington-Steel locked the doors and said “let’s do this,” which Whitley knew to mean sex, Fior said.
Whitley said the girl refused, Fior testified. “She didn’t want to do anything sexual,” he said Whitley told him.
Fior testified that the girl picked Washington-Steel out of a photo lineup several days later. However, she was unable to identify Whitley, who she had not met before that day, Fior said.
In March 2010, Whitley agreed to supply his DNA to police, Fior said. Lab results comparing Whitley’s DNA with DNA found at the scene earlier this year led to Whitley’s arrest on Feb. 8, 2011, Fior said.
During his interview with police, Whitley initially said “he didn’t remember” what happened that night, Fior said. “I advised him that we had DNA evidence and that I needed the truth from him.”
“The defendant stated he knew the girl didn’t want to perform sexual acts or have sex with him or Steel,” said Fior, who also said Whitley identified the girl from a photograph as the one he and Washington-Steel met up with that night.
During cross examination from defense attorney Donna Rotunno, Fior stated that the girl never told him that Washington-Steel had been to her house once before and had requested sex at that time. The girl testified earlier that they had been alone in her house one time and that Washington-Steel asked for sex but she refused and he left.
The Northwest Community Hospital nurse who examined and interviewed the girl also testified, saying the girl told her “she did not consent” to having sex with the two boys.
“She made reference that they were big and aggressive and she felt she did not have a choice,” nurse Ann Schmidt Schmidt said.
Whitley will testify Wednesday when the trial continues in Rolling Meadows, Rotunno said.