Test results show alleged rape victim used drugs

A 25-year-old woman says ex-COCC professor Thomas Bray violently and repeatedly raped her after they met on an online dating site and went out on their first date in February 2011. Now, more than a year later, the woman’s toxicology results were the center of attention at her alleged attacker’s trial.

The woman testified last week how Bray choked, raped and sodomized her for hours in his apartment. But on Tuesday, the defense went after her character, showing how a forensic scientist found traces of marijuana in the her system.

Deschutes County Circuit Judge Stephen Tiktin, hearing the trial without a jury, was not so sure that information belonged in the courtroom.

Most of Monday and a good portion of testimony Tuesday in Bray’s rape trial played out as a blame game — and the prosecution lost the first round.

Tiktin agreed with Bray’s attorney about not allowing racy e-mails and pornographic videos found saved on his client’s computer to blacken his character.

On Tuesday afternoon, the roles were reversed. District Attorney Patrick Flaherty argued Bray’s attorney, Stephen Houze, was trying to sully the womant’s character by bringing up her toxicology results.

A forensic scientist for the Oregon State Police testified those results showed Bray’s accuser tested positive for marijuana after the alleged rape. The defense told Tiktin, the information needed to be heard in court, because the woman told a sexual assault nurse at St. Charles in Bend she had not been using drugs.

Houze argued, “The witness in this case chose to give a false answer”. Tiktin said he would have to wait to make his ruling, but added, “Any sort of substance in a witness’s system affects their ability to recall” events.

When I asked Houze for information regarding whether Bray himself would be taking the stand, he told me they have not made a decision just yet. The trial continues with testimony Wednesday morning.