Defendant wants to block accusers’ testimonies
Posted on Thursday, July 3, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/nwat/News/66765/
A fitness trainer accused of raping a woman at his Bodies for Christ Training Center in Springdale wants to prevent three other alleged sexcrime victims from testifying at his trial on Tuesday.
James Solomon, 37, also faces two counts of sexual assault in Crawford County. He is accused of inappropriately touching women at his Christ Training Centers in Van Buren.
In addition, he faces federal prison time for violating conditions of his probation on federal drug charges out of the Eastern District of Oklahoma. Evidence from cases in both counties was used against him at his federal revocation hearing in January.
Public defender Julie Tolleson on Wednesday filed a motion in limine in the case seeking to prevent the victims and a sheriff ’s deputy from the Crawford county cases from testifying in Washington County. Both of these victims ’ stories are of “ rebuffed sexual advances” and bear “ little resemblance to forcible rape” alleged in the Washington County case, the motion argues.
Solomon was initially charged with two counts of rape in Washington County. One count of rape was not prosecuted after the accuser’s rape test revealed semen from someone other than Solomon, the motion states. Her testimony should be excluded as “ insufficiently reliable, ” the motion claims.
An earlier motion in limine was denied in January by 4 th Judicial Circuit Judge Kim Smith, who ruled that all four alleged victims could testify.
“ In each case, the victim was either raped or sexually assaulted and each was a young woman, approached by the defendant in places other than his fitness center, and the defendant approached the young women about working for him or improving her physical condition, ” Smith stated in his order.
“ In each case, the defendant showed them his muscles and then demonstrated exercises to them and removed his own clothing, ” the order states. “ In each case he then started touching them which led to the sexual assault. ”
Testimony from one of the witnesses at Solomon’s revocation hearing is not consistent with the police report, the defense claims. This victim claims that Solomon offered in 2006 to provide her with an affordable car and then touched her inappropriately at his gym in Van Buren.
She said that he would not provide the car unless she agreed to sex. She later admitted that she later called him 21 times about the car, according to a transcript of the hearing. She said she came forward with her allegation against Solomon after learning about other allegations against him in the media.
She claims Solomon was “ laying on top of (her ) and started talking about sex and stuff and how it feels good and everyone does it” and that they “ should have sex because it was fun. ”
The other Crawford County victim did not appear to testify at the revocation hearing in federal court, the motion states.
Solomon also faces a charge of failure to appear in Washington County after missing his Feb. 12 trial date. He was arrested by federal marshals in California and returned to Arkansas for his federal revocation hearing. The motion seeks to prevent a federal marshal and bail bondsman from testifying because this would prejudice the jury in deciding the rape case.