Sides rest in rape case

SANDPOINT — A Bonner County jury could start deliberating today on the guilt or innocence of a Bonner County man charged with rape.

The state and defense each rested their cases in chief on Wednesday. Bonner County Deputy Prosecutor Nick Lapire may call rebuttal witnesses to the stand today, which would clear the way for a final round of jury instructions, closing remarks and deliberation.

A jury of eight women and six men took in sharply contrasting eyewitness accounts of the Aug. 11, 2018, incident inside a home on South Boyer Avenue after a concert by the surviving members of the ska/punk band Sublime.

The alleged victim in the case took the stand and recounted that she was inebriated when the home’s host helped her to an upstairs bedroom and had no recollection of falling asleep.

She tearfully recalled awakening to Kuhn performing oral sex on her before raping her.

“I woke up confused and scared,” she testified.

The young woman told jurors she grabbed another young woman who was also in the bed, but could not get her to wake. She said she fled the room and told other people downstairs what had happened.

“I was panicked. I was crying, freaking out,” she testified.

Kuhn, 21, testified that he had been sleeping on a couch in the bedroom when the alleged victim called out “hey” to him and motioned for him to join her in the bed.

Kuhn denied performing oral sex but admitted having intercourse with her briefly.

“She seemed to be very coherent. She was very responsive,” Kuhn told the jury.

The jury was also shown video footage from a body-worn camera utilized by Sandpoint Police Sgt. Steve Chamberlain, who questioned Kuhn in a patrol vehicle parked outside the residence.

Chamberlain starts by explaining the importance of honesty and Kuhn starts by lying to the officer, according to the video. Kuhn claimed to have consumed a half a beer earlier in the night, but Chamberlain notes that there is the odor of alcohol coming off him and his speech is slurred. A Breathalyzer test subsequently indicated Kuhn was over the legal limit to drive.

“Right now, you are not telling me the truth,” Chamberlain tells Kuhn.

Kuhn also initially denied knowing the alleged victim’s name and at first insisted he didn’t have sex with anyone in the home before admitting having consensual intercourse with her.

On the stand, Kuhn told jurors he was not truthful about his alcohol consumption because he was in the process of leaving the scene and didn’t want to be charged with driving under the influence. Kuhn said he was initially deceptive about the intercourse because he had a girlfriend.

In a follow-up interview with Det. Skylar Ziegler, Kuhn conceded the alleged victim may have been too intoxicated to have sex and estimated her level of inebriation an 8 on a 10-point scale.

Kuhn distanced himself from those remarks at trial, explaining that they came near the end of a two-hour interview that he saw no end to unless he conceded on some points.

Kuhn testified that the alleged victim had flirted with him earlier in the evening, which prompted the jury being excused so Bonner County Deputy Prosecutor Nick Lapire and Public Defender Susie Jensen could hash out a legal argument.

Lapire moved to allow jurors to see a Sandpoint Police report in which the Kuhn was accused of touching the same alleged victim inappropriately 2016 under circumstance which bore striking resemblances to the crime Kuhn is being tried for. It occurred in the dead of night while the two were in a bed with a third occupant, according to court documents.

Lapire argued that the alleged victim never would have flirted with Kuhn in light of the 2016 incident and that the conduct showed a pattern.

Kuhn was never prosecuted for that alleged offense and Jensen had successfully moved in a pretrial motion to have the 2016 incident kept out of the trial.

First District Judge Barbara Buchanan said she was at a disadvantage because she was not the judge who ruled on that issue. However, she deemed the police report overly prejudicial and declined to grant the state’s motion.

“The danger of prejudice outweighs any probative value,” Buchanan said.

Keith Kinnaird can be reached by email at kkinnaird@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow him on Twitter @KeithDailyBee.