Alumnus Acquitted of Sexual Assault

Author: Edward Pickering

An Addison County jury acquitted former Middlebury College student Chigozie Ogwuegbu '03 of a sexual assault charge brought against him by a female student who claimed he date-raped her on the night of Feb. 21, 2002. The trial, which concluded on Feb. 7, 2003, lasted three days.
Initially charged with aggravated sexual assault, later amended to sexual assault, Ogwuegbu faced up to 20 years in prison and/or a fine of up to $10,000.
Addison County State's Attorney John Quinn argued that the plaintiff had been drunk on the night of Feb. 21 and had not willingly had sex with the defendant. Ogwuegbu's attorney, Robert Keiner, argued that the plaintiff was sober and that the sex was consensual.
"I am just glad to get on with my life. Pretty much my whole year was on hold," said Ogwuegbu in an interview with The Middlebury Campus. He now resides in Washington, D.C., and works as a consultant in the communications industry.
The plaintiff was "upset and extremely disappointed" by the court's decision, said Quinn in a phone conversation. "She was in tears." Quinn noted that the plaintiff, who declined comment for this article, no longer attends Middlebury College.
Middlebury Police Officer Vegar Boe began investigating the case when he received an anonymous phone call March 13, 2002. The caller proved to be the plaintiff herself. According to Boe's affidavit, dated April 10, 2002, the plaintiff and Ogwuegbu met at a party on the night of Feb. 21. The plaintiff then invited Ogwuegbu to leave the party with her. Back at her dormitory, the two took a shower together and then returned to her room.
The plaintiff and Ogwuegbu differ on what happened next. The plaintiff claimed, in court documents, that she was drunk and was forced to have sex against her will. In the same court documents a friend of Ogwuegbu's stated that Ogwuegbu told him, "[the plaintiff] was not uneasy at any point that night about anything going on."
In court documents the plaintiff did acknowledge "that she had an interest in [Ogwuegbu] for some time." She "thought he was really nice and wanted to date him."
Attorney Quinn stated, "She was romantically interested in the guy so I can't see why she would make [the charges] up."
Following her encounter with Ogwuegbu, the plaintiff designed a poster that was displayed across campus. According to court documents, the plaintiff showed the poster to a friend and said, "I have to do something, and I have to show him that I am not just going to go away. I have to think about him everyday, and I want to put these up so he has to think about me."
Ogwuegbu observed that when the posters first appeared he was ignorant of both their origin and relevance. "When the posters started going up I still didn't know what was going on."
"I felt like I was the victim of a campaign led by [the plaintiff's roommate] and [the plaintiff] to bring womens' right issues to attention on campus," said Ogwuegbu, referring to the posters and his belief that the plaintiff's roommate influenced the plaintiff's decision to press charges.
Robert Keiner echoed his client in a statement published last week in The Addison Independent article of last week. "There is no question in my mind here that the roommate both encouraged her to make the police report, and subsequently made the woman a poster-child for FAM's cause."
Feminist Action Middlebury (FAM) co-president Joya Scott '03 denies that her organization sponsored last spring's poster campaign.
"FAM has never been directly involved in [the court case]," she added. "The case was not public knowledge among FAM members. It was never discussed in meetings."
The plaintiff's roommate refutes the imputation that she influenced her roommate's decision. "It was her decision and no one else's to report the incident to the police," she said
"It is ridiculous to assert that I, as her friend, would have tried to convince her or urge her to go through with something so painful simply to further my political agenda on campus," said the plaintiff's roommate.
When asked why the plaintiff waited nearly three weeks before notifying police of her encounter, her roommate responded, "It is not uncommon for women who have been raped to be in a state of shock and denial afterwards. This denial can go on for weeks, months or years."
"Regret," Ogweugbu said, referring to the lapse of time, "does not lead to rape."
Several people close to the plaintiff remarked that her behavior changed drastically after Feb. 21. "She was a happy go-lucky, personable girl before the encounter," said Quinn, "but afterwards cried a lot and acted reclusively, staying in her room.
"I argued that [the plaintiff] should be believed because of her emotional change after the incident. Her behavior was consistent with victims of sexual assault. I had a dean and good friend of hers testify on this point," he continued.
Ogwuegbu said he regretted that this past year he had "to forfeit a lot of opportunities." He said he is relieved to be cleared of the charges brought against him.