Jordan Johnson continued the testimony he began Tuesday in Missoula Dstrict Court today, Feb. 27, telling his side of the story regarding a relationship, and subsequent sexual encounter, he had with a fellow University of Montana student who said he raped her Feb. 4, 2012.

Johnson began by explaining that he initiated communication with the woman by sending her a text message around 2 p.m. The two texted back and forth for awhile and ultimately decided that they would watch a movie at her house later that evening.

In the meantime, Johnson said he spent the afternoon and evening hanging out at his home that he shared with friends. They watched TV, played video games and drank beer. Johnson testified that over the course of four to five hours he had about four beers. Johnson said that he didn't feel anything from the alcohol and his judgement wasn't impaired.

Despite how he felt, Johnson had the woman pick him up at his house. He said the football team has a rule that if you've drank even one beer you do not drive, and he said in testimony that he never breaks that rule.

Johnson didn't tell his roommates that he was planning to go to the woman's house. They all went out to go downtown and he remained at the house.

Defense attorney Kirsten Pabst asked Johnson what his intentions were for the night.

"To go watch a movie," he replied.

Did he think the two would have sex?

"I thought it was a possibility," he said.

Did he expect it, Pabst asked.

"I wasn't expecting it," he said, adding that he was just looking forward to watching a movie with the woman.

When Johnson and the woman arrived at her house she introduced him to her roommate Stephen Green. Then Johnson went into the woman's room with her as Green went back to playing the video game he was playing when they arrived. Johnson said he estimated that Green was sitting about 2 feet from the woman's bedroom door.

Inside the Woman's Room

Once in the bedroom Johnson said he sat down on the woman's bed and took his shoes off while the woman picked out a movie. She chose "Easy A," which Johnson said in testimony that he believed it was about a girl that made up having sex with someone.

Johnson said that at some point he also took off his coat and his watch, the latter of which was a Christmas gift from his sister that he said he rarely wears.

When the movie began Johnson laid down on the bed facing the TV with his back to the wall. The woman climbed onto the bed and laid down in front of him, according to Johnson's testimony. He said one of his arms was cradling her head and the other was draped over her stomach area.

Johnson said that after about 15 to 20 minutes of watching the movie that the woman rolled over and began kissing him. He said he kissed her back and the two began making out. The woman then climbed on top of him, according to Johnson, and eventually gyrated her hips as she straddled him. He took her shirt off and she took his off, and she remained on top of him throughout this process.

Pabst asked Johnson if there was any arguing or reluctant behavior from the woman throughout the disrobing. Johnson said there was not and that the two continued kissing.

The woman then rolled off of Johnson toward the outside of the bed and they continued

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kissing as he took her pants off, according to Johnson. He said "arched her hips to help him" remove her yoga-style pants.

"Did she show any reluctance?" Pabst asked.

"No," Johnson replied.

He said that as the two continued to kiss he touched the woman in her genital area over her underwear. Although the woman testified that she touched Johnson in his crotch area, he said during his testimony that he didn't remember that that happened.

When Pabst asked if Johnson had any indication if she was enjoying the situation he said he thought that she, "liked it." When asked why, he said, "because she wasn't resisting in any way and she was still kissing me."

Johnson said he next took off her bra and underwear and his own pants and underwear.

"She asked if I brought a condom," Johnson said. "I said 'no' and she said 'that's OK.'"

The two then began having sex in what Johnson said was "the missionary position," adding that he sometimes had his arms wrapped around her and sometimes she had hers around him.

Pabst asked if the woman said "no" or if she asked him to stop?

"No... if she would have I would have stopped," said Johnson, who testified Tuesday that he had once before been asked to stop by the woman during a kissing session when he was trying to take her shirt off and he did stop.

Johnson said that after two to three minutes of having sex he stopped and pulled out of the woman because he thought he was nearing ejaculation. However, he did not and said that is when he rolled her over to change positions.

"Oh, you're bad," said the woman to Johnson with a giggle as she looked back at him, according to his testimony.

He said that he took this as her liking it. Johnson said she was also moaning, which he also took as her liking it.

He said the two continued to have sex for another two to three minutes before he pulled out again, and this time ejaculated into his hand and onto the bed.

"At one point did she say 'no'?" Pabst asked.

"She never said no," Johnson said.

Pabst asked how he was sure of this.

"She didn't. I would have heard her and I would have stopped," Johnson said.

Johnson continued his account of the night by saying that he asked the woman for something to clean up with and she got off of the bed and gave him a hand towel. He said that he then got dressed and went to the bathroom.

Pabst stopped him to clarify the situation, asking if he cuddled with the woman, kissed her, or told her that he enjoyed the sex. Johnson said he did not.

"I don't know why. I just didn't," Johnson said.

When Johnson returned to her room from the bathroom the woman was not there. She returned soon after he did and told him that she had friends that needed a ride from the Foresters' Ball.

"She said do you want to go home now or later," Johnson said on the stand.

He agreed with Pabst that he was under the impression that he could have spent the night if he wanted to, but said he didn't feel like meeting her friends.

Johnson said that he then put on the rest of his clothes and went out to the woman's car. He said he passed behind Green, who was still playing video games, but did not interact with him.

Johnson said that when he got in the woman's car he began feeling guilty and regretting having sex with her because of another woman he had been seeing casually and had growing feelings toward. The alleged victim saw him dancing with and kissing that other woman the night before at the Foresters' Ball.

He said that his guilt about the other woman finding out that he'd had sex with someone else was part of the reason he didn't talk to the alleged victim on the drive back to his house, which he estimated to be just a few minutes. Johnson said that when they pulled up at his house he said, "Thanks for having me," and got out of the car.

Johnson testified that the woman did not appear to be upset in anyway during the car ride or before they left her house following sexual intercourse.

Pabst asked Johnson how he knew she wasn't upset.

"I was there, and she wasn't," Johnson said.

Johnson said that when he arrived home his roommates had still not returned and he went to his room and went to bed.

The Letter

He did not tell any of his roommates about having sex with the woman until the following Sunday, Feb. 14, 2012, when he received a letter from the dean of The University of Montana notifying him that the woman was accusing him of sexual assault.

"I was in shock," Johnson said. "I didn't know what he was talking about."

Johnson then told his roommates about what had happened and they took him to Grizzlies head football coach Robin Pflugrad's house. Johnson said that they drove him up there because he was too upset to travel there by himself. The roommates dropped him off and picked him back up about an hour later.

"He told me it was all going to be OK," said Johnson, who knew Pflugrad for about five years prior to attending school in Montana.

Life-Changing Allegations

"Is it fair to say that from the day you received the letter that life has dramatically changed?" asked Pabst. Johnson agreed.

Pabst brought up the alleged victim talking about being upset that Johnson was allowed to practice with the football team and not having to suffer like her, and asked him if that was true.

"No. It was very hard for me an my family," said Johnson as he choked back tears.

Johnson was ultimately suspended from the team when the sexual assault charges were filed against him due to NCAA rules.

"That part was hard, but this whole thing puts things in perspective," Johnson said. "Football is just a game. That's not what's most important."

"So it's not the most important part of this?" Pabst asked.

"No," Johnson said.

"What is the most important part?" Pabst said.

"My family is," Johnson said.

Pabst went on to ask about how the allegations have altered his relationships with family and friends, especially since many of his friends are on the football team. He said it has had a big impact and that he spends a lot of time alone.

Johnson went on to say that his father Martin, who testified later in the afternoon, has been his rock throughout the situation.

Pabst concluded her questioning with Johnson by asking him why he has been "looking forward to this opportunity (of testifying) for a long time."

"I want people to know what really happened," Johnson said.

Jordan Johnson testimony regarding why he chose to take the stand:

Cross-examination

Prosecuting attorney Adam Duerk began his cross-examination of Johnson by asking if he agreed that he thought she was pretty, smart and nice; to which he agreed. Duerk then asked Johnson to confirm that he had never seen the woman act in a way that made him think that she was "crazy."

"You don't know why (she) has done any of this, is that correct?" Duerk asked.

"Yes, that's correct."

Duerk went on to ask Johnson about the other woman he was interested in, and then returned to the topic of the night of the alleged rape. He asked Johnson about his alcohol consumption, as his testimony differed from that of his roommate Alex Bienemann, who testified as a witness for the prosecution Friday, Feb. 22. Later in redirect Pabst noted that the alleged victim testified that she did not believe that Johnson was under the influence that night.

Duerk then asked Johnson about the second position he and the woman had sex in. Johnson had described to Pabst that his hands were on her forearms and her hands were above her.

"You said in your statement that all of your weight was in your hands, so you were pinning her to the bed. Is that fair?" Duerk asked.

After some back-and-forth of clarification and restating the question, Johnson said, "That's fair."

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Duerk continued to ask about discrepancies in Johnson's account of the night versus that of the alleged victim.

“You deny you ever said, ‘Turn over or I’ll make you,’” Duerk said.

“I never said that,” Johnson said.

“You would agree that if you said something like that, that would indicate you knew you didn’t have her consent, correct?” Duerk asked.

“Yes,” Johnson said.

Duerk also pointed out that both the woman and Green testified that she did not go back into her room and talk with Johnson as he said that they did.

He then asked Johnson if it is true that nothing seemed weird to him. He agreed that it did not.

Duerk then asked Johnson about the text message she sent Green after she had sex with Johnson. It read:

Omg... I think I might have just gotten raped... he kept pushing and pushing and I said no but he just wouldn’t listen... I just wanna cry... omg what do I do?”

Duerk asked Johnson if he would agree that something was wrong if someone sent a text message like that. He agreed.

He went on to ask if Johnson thought that the text message would make sense if a rape had occurred. Johnson said it would had that occurred. Duerk then asked if it would be "crazy" had a rape not occurred. Johnson agreed, and Duerk followed by reminding Johnson that he said the woman was not crazy.

Redirect

Pabst returned to question Johnson and asked him to read through the statement he gave police regarding the position he was in with the woman during the second part of intercourse.

Johnson confirmed that he told police, "We just changed positions." "I started it, but she knew what I was doing," Johnson said.

Pabst also asked Johnson about Duerk's point that he had the woman pinned to the bed.

"Now, when you used the word 'pinned,' is it 'pinned' in a way where she could not have gotten away?" Pabst asked.

"No," Johnson replied.

Pabst then turned to the topic of the woman's roommate Green, and asked Johnson to confirm the differing parts of his testimony from Green's, which Duerk had brought up.

Johnson did not alter his earlier testimony and Pabst referenced Green's testimony, which Johnson was in the courtroom for.

"What was your understanding of the reason that Stephen Green didn’t come into the room?" she asked.

"He said that he thought she was exaggerating," Johnson said.

Pabst returned to an earlier topic, asking him again about his feelings for the woman prior to having sex with her. He confirmed his earlier testimony that he wasn't interested in a relationship with her and said that she may have liked him more than he liked her.

Pabst then asked him to repeat a statement that he had given earlier prior to the trial.

Maybe I'm a bad person for going over there and just having sex with her. If that makes me a bad person then I'm a bad person.

"But that doesn't make you a rapist?" Pabst followed.

"No," Johnson said.

Pabst then referenced a series of questions Duerk had asked Johnson regarding "what you do when a woman says 'no.'

"Did (she) ever say no?" Pasbst asked.

"She didn’t," Johnson said.

"And you agree that a woman can change her mind as well?"

"Yes."

"Did she ever change her mind or communicate that to you?"

"No."

"And you’ve testified that you don’t know what she was thinking."

"Correct."

"And if you thought that she even had an inkling that she wasn’t into it, you would have asked her what was wrong."

"I would have asked her what was wrong and stopped."

"Did you ever hold her head down?"

"No."

"Did you ever force her?"

"No."

Duerk Redirect

Johnson's time on the stand ended with Duerk confirming several points.

"You cannot deny the following details," said Duerk before rattling off a set of questions in a similar fashion to Pabst.

"This was just sex for you, correct?"

"Yes."

"You testified earlier that you pinned her to the bed, correct?"

"Yes."

"You penetrated her from behind, correct?"

"Yes."

"She sent a text immediately afterwards, correct?"

"Yes."

"That text indicated she had just been raped, correct?"

"Yes."

"It indicated that she said no to you, correct?"

"Yes."

"Her text indicated that you kept pushing and pushing, correct?"

"Yes."

"After intercourse, you didn’t talk, correct?"

"I asked her if she had something to clean it up with."

"Aside from that, you didn’t talk, correct?"

"She asked if I wanted to go home now or later."

"That is her testimony today, correct?"

"Yes."

"Aside from those few statements, you didn’t talk about this with her, correct?"

"Correct."

"And after this intercourse happened, the very next day, she reported to First Step, correct?"

"Correct."

"Based on what you heard, she reported tenderness on the back of her head, correct?

"I think it was on the front of her head."

"Did she report a tenderness on her head, correct?"

"Yes."

"And her genitals were photographed and filmed and that film was played for this jury, correct?"

"Yes."

"Do you agree that if it happened the way (she) described it, her text… what she said… would make sense, correct?"

"If it happened."

"It would make sense if it happened, correct? And she did send that text, correct?"

"She did."

"Okay, perfect."

Testimony is expected to conclude tomorrow, Feb. 28 when the defense calls its final witness. Court will reconvene at 10 a.m. Testimony will be followed by closing statements and the jury's deliberation.

 

 

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