CINCINNATI — A lawyer for the man accused of raping a University of Cincinnati student says the encounter could have been consensual because the woman has a history of sleepwalking.Dexter Ford, 52, is charged with raping the 23-year-old woman early Thursday morning near Interstate 71 in Cincinnati.
Ford’s lawyer, Jeff Adams, said prosecutors told him the woman takes prescription medication and has a sleepwalking condition, a fact that will likely be the core part of Ford’s defense.
“It goes to consent,” he said. “How is he to know she is sleepwalking, if it’s a dream ‘yes’ or a real ‘yes?’ ”
Adams has not said if Ford spoke to the woman and whether she consented to sex.
Messages seeking comment were left with Adams on Saturday.
Two passing motorists reported seeing Ford on top of a woman near a White Castle restaurant on Taft Road near I-71 and called police from their cell phones, Cincinnati police said.
When police arrived, the woman was still asleep, according to police reports.
She was taken to University Hospital for treatment.
Hamilton County Municipal Judge Fanon Rucker said he also was told the victim sleepwalked through the encounter.
Rucker set bond for $500,000 and ordered Ford to be tested for sexually transmitted diseases. Ford told police he is HIV-positive, Rucker said.
During the past 15 years Ford, who is currently homeless, has served time in the Hamilton County jail and state prisons on charges including aggravated arson, breaking and entering, possession of illegal drug paraphernalia, theft and trespassing, court records showed.
Sleep medicines such as Lunesta and Ambien have been reported to cause sleepwalking in patients, said Dr. James Knepler, who specializes in sleep disorders at the University of Cincinnati’s Comprehensive Medicine Center.
Sleepwalkers typically look like they are in a daze, and may not respond to outside stimuli, he said.
*Hmmm..I don't know, but my elderly Aunt, who takes Ambien, says that she has found her heater turned on in the morning, when she knows it was turned off the night before.
And that's all I have to say about it.
Anything is possible.
7 comments:
While it is true that these new sleeping pills DO cause sleepwalking in an alarmingly large number of cases, the fact that this moron is HIV positive and having unprotected sex with a dazed female he ran into on the street should be enough to charge him with assualt and battery with muderous intent.
I am very sympathetic to HIV/AIDS sufferers UNTIL they deliberately and with malicous aforethought commit acts aimed at spreading their disease to others.
Those people just called the cops and then drove on? That's pretty sad.
rockync..the whole thing is disgusting to even think about, but anyone who does that to another human being, asleep or awake, knowing that they could be infecting them with a fatal disease should be put away from society for a very long time.
hermit..yes, that's what happened, but they may have thought that it was just a couple having sex, with no regard as to being seen. Of course, for all they knew, he could have been raping her. Whatever the reason, people just don't want to get involved, sad to say. Not too long ago, a guy beat a service station attendant nearly to death..for over six minutes, with a brick, while several people just stood by and offered no help. It just happened that a police car was driving by and saw it...just in time to save the guy's life. That was here, but it is getting that way everywhere. People seem to be losing their compassion, and respect for human life, entirely.
We have two good laws here in Georgia. One is the Good Samaritan law, which keeps you from being sued or prosecuted if you act on behalf of another in dire straits.
The other is the "castle" law that says you cannot be prosecuted if you shoot someone while acting in defense of yourself, your property, or others in distress.
If I saw that going on by the road, I think I'd figure "rape" because public goings on of a consensual nature are not very likely in that arena here.
Hermit..those are good laws. I remember a few years ago, a guy had been burglarized several times, and finally rigged, and aimed a shotgun at the window where he had been getting in. The burglar ended up paralyzed, and became the victim, and sued the owner of the house, who was only trying to protect his property, and perhaps, the lives of himself and his family. I don't know if the laws have been changed concerning that, but if not, they should be.
wow.
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