Defense attorneys claim alleged rape was actually consensual

LIMA — The alleged victim of a 2021 sexual assault took the witness stand Tuesday and told how a Lima man raped her while she was sleeping.

Defense attorneys maintained the evidence will show any sex was consensual.

Jurors were seated Tuesday afternoon in Allen County Common Pleas Court in the trial of Daniel Brisco, 31, who is charged with two counts of first-degree felony rape.

The alleged victim, now 20 years of age, told jurors she was staying at the same house as Brisco on South Harrison Street in Lima on the night of Nov. 15, 2021, when she awoke to find his penis inside her vaginal cavity. The young woman said she and Brisco had talked earlier that evening before she fell asleep.

The Lima News typically does not identify victims of sexual assault.

“When I woke up a few hours later he was inside me; he had penetrated me,” the woman testified. She said Brisco had pulled down her shorts and underwear prior to the assault.

The alleged victim said the when she woke up and realized what had happened she called a suicide prevention hotline was was connected with Pamela Silver, a case worker with Crime Victim Services. She told Silver what had happened “and Miss Pam sent a cab (to the residence) to take me to the hospital” where a sexual assault rape examination was administered.

“It was uncomfortable and it hurt,” the young woman said.

Megan McLean of the Allen County Public Defenders Office, in her opening remarks to jurors, admitted that DNA contained in the rape kit that was examined by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation was indeed that of Brisco’s.

“We will not deny that he (Brisco) had sex with the victim. We believe the evidence will show that the sex was consensual,” McLean said in her opening.

During her cross-examination of the victim, McLean suggested that testimony the woman gave in court on Tuesday differed greatly from a statement she gave Lima Police Department Detective Sean Neidemire following the incident.

“Isn’t it true that before Daniel Brisco came into your room that night that you were texting with each other?” McLean asked.

“Yes,” said the woman.

“And didn’t you tell Detective Neidemire that a part of that conversation was in reference to you and Daniel having sex?” the defense attorney continued.

“No,” the alleged victim responded.

Assistant Allen County Prosecuting Attorney Cecily Stewart, in her opening remarks to jurors, said evidence in the form of testimony from law enforcement officials, medical experts, Crime Victim Services representatives as well as the victim herself will prove Brisco’s guilt.

Note: 12 jurors and an alternate were seated on Tuesday, but following the lunch break one juror asked to be dismissed from service “due to the nature of the case.” The potential juror said they did not believe they could be fair and impartial. Judge Jeffrey Reed excused the juror and elevated the lone alternate to a seat on the panel.

When he welcomed the jurors back into the room and explained that there now would be no alternate, Reed playfully asked the remaining jurors how they were feeling. His comment elicited a laugh from those in the courtroom.