UPDATE: Skipp Anderson found guilty of sexual assault
Jurors are deliberating whether the owner of Pink Lounge & Nightclub and his friend engaged in drunken consensual sex or whether the incident be deemed a sexual assault.
The fate of Skipp Anderson, 40, is in the hands of a jury. Deliberations began at 2:06 p.m. CT Thursday.
The incident dates back to July 2016 when a group of friends got together for a night of drinking and hot tubbing.
In Crown prosecutor Tamara Rock’s closing arguments, she theorized to the jury that Anderson may have moved the complainant, a 22-year-old man who cannot be identified, from a main floor spare bedroom to the upstairs spare bedroom where the alleged assault took place.
The complainant was intoxicated and numerous witnesses testified friends helped him out of the hot tub and he was taken to the main floor bedroom.
Rock reiterated to the jury the Crown’s position that when the complainant came to, he was in the upstairs spare bedroom and penetration was taking place with both the complainant and Anderson lying on their sides.
“Stomach to back (spooning) is a passive position,” Rock said to the jury, suggesting the complainant was being penetrated while passed out.
Defense lawyer Brad Mitchell reminded the jury the complainant was admittedly very intoxicated. “He testified he can’t remember if he initiated sex with Mr. Anderson,” said Mitchell. “That is very important,” he said to the jury.
Mitchell suggested to the jury that even the complainant didn’t believe it was sexual assault until the next day when the complainant was texting a friend.
“He (the complainant) didn’t think that (the incident was sexual assault) until Clayton McNally suggested it to him (the complainant),” Mitchell told the jury during his closing arguments.
Mitchell has asked jurors to ignore all distraction evidence that was brought forward in the trial; meanwhile Rock has asked jurors to rely on their common sense.
“The complainant was in no physical shape to have consensual sex with Skipp Anderson,” she said.
Judge Ron Mills says the jury must find Anderson guilty if they believe there was no consent or if they believe the complainant was too intoxicated to give consent.
Mills also explained to the jury that Anderson must be acquitted if they believe Anderson honestly believed there was consent or if they believe there actually was consent.
Deliberations continue.
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