A jury heard opening arguments Monday in the trial of a Great Bend man accused of rape, aggravated burglary and criminal damage to property. Steven Terry Jordan, 44, is accused of committing these crimes at a residence in the 1100 block of Morphy St. in the early morning hours of Feb. 6, 2013.
Barton County Attorney Douglas A. Matthews told the jurors what they can expect to hear when testimony gets underway today.
“A young woman was raped. I cannot put it any more simply than that.”
The woman is expected to testify that friends were over that night, and she had just gone to bed around 1:30 a.m. Ten minutes later she heard noises at the front door; she grabbed her cell phone and she went to investigate. The door opened violently – either shoved or kicked in – and she was confronted by a man with a knife. He grabbed the phone, raped her and then covered her face with a blanket, asking if she would call 911 after he left. She said no, and didn’t call immediately.
Later, she went to her truck and called 911.
There will be DNA evidence and the testimony of officers and a sexual assault nurse who examined the victim, Matthews said.
“This is going to come down to one thing,” Matthews told the jury. “Did Steven Jordan do what he did with the consent of (the victim)? The answer will be no.”
However, Lynn Burke, attorney from the Reno County Public Defender Office in Hutchinson, told the jury, “There are two stories to be told.”
Jordan was at the house and had sex with his accuser, Burke said. But he was not a complete stranger, as she told police.
“In fact, the two ran in the same circle of friends,” Burke said. Jordan lived less than a block away, and he was outside smoking that night when he saw her doing the same thing.
Jordan claims she agreed to have sex with him in exchange for money and meth, although he changed his mind after the sex. He left but forgot his wallet, and when he returned for it “he pushed open the door which already had a broken latch.”
When she asked if Jordan was going to tell her boyfriend, Jordan said yes. Anger, guilt and regret that she would agree to have sex for drugs and money motivated the woman to claim she was raped, Burke said. “She couldn’t have Steven telling (her boyfriend), so she called the police.”
The jurors have been instructed to be ready to start today at 9 a.m. in Barton County District Court. District Judge Ron Svaty is presiding.