WARNING: This story contains graphic content.
The defence continued to scrutinize each of the complainants in the sexual assault trial of Matthew McKnight Wednesday, as closing arguments entered their second day.
Dino Bottos, defence lawyer for former nightclub consultant McKnight, argued each of the encounters was consensual and not forced.
McKnight is charged with 13 counts of sexual assault stemming from incidents that allegedly happened between 2010 and 2016.
Bottos said one complainant changed her story about how many drinks she had the night of the alleged sexual assault, from 11 drinks to three.
“This case is based on credibility. That has to weigh heavily in your minds in your deliberations,” he told the 11-person jury.
Bottos further said photos from Knoxville’s, where the woman was on the night of the alleged sexual assault, refute the woman’s claim her drink was drugged.
He said, if she had consumed a stupefying drink within 15 minutes of arriving at the bar, she would have been “flat out” and “highly intoxicated.”
Bottos said the photos show the woman still looking sober a couple of hours after arriving.
He also questioned that complainant’s memory, including how much of her memory is true and what was reconstructed from other people.
The defence cited testimony from the woman’s friend who said the complainant said she was fine when she was in McKnight’s bedroom, which Bottos said disputes the woman’s claim she was drugged.
“How do you discount that from her own friend?” Bottos said.
Bottos also questioned the credibility of another woman who spent the night with McKnight by citing text messages between the two.
He said the messages contradict the woman’s claim she was trying to move away from McKnight and that she broke off the relationship with him.
Bottos said the messages show she had a crush on McKnight and was trying to see and spend time with him but he was not responding to her.
He said the messages show the woman asking McKnight if she could spend the night at his apartment because she did not want to go home with an impaired driver.
“Don’t you think there are other options out there than staying with the man who raped you?” Bottos said to the jury.
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The defence said the woman only raised the possibility of being drugged during trial, not during the preliminary hearing or during an interview with a police officer.
He said the woman had problems with her memory and honesty and that there should be reasonable doubt about her testimony.
Bottos later scrutinized the testimony of a different woman, who he said changed her recollection of what happened with McKnight from kissing to allegations of forced intercourse.
McKnight testified there was no sexual assault but rather he kissed this woman in the bar and his bedroom but the pair got interrupted by a third person.
The defence said the woman told her friend that she and McKnight just kissed. Later, he said her story changed to not knowing whether she was raped and that she could not remember the event because she was traumatized.
Bottos said he does not think the woman’s memory is true, saying the woman forgot the part about forced intercourse during the preliminary hearing and during the trial.
Yet he said she remembered having vaginal soreness and discharge.
He referenced how, at the preliminary hearing, the woman said she was sore and it was hard to walk for two days.
“Are you gonna buy that ladies and gentlemen?” Bottos said.
He said that if she could hardly walk, why would she not tell her friend and instead tell her friend that she and McKnight were “just kissing.”
The defence is expected to continue its closing arguments Thursday and the Crown will present its closing arguments after that.
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