Posted on 11/02/2006 6:55:14 PM PST by WestNJersey
The stories most of the women told were strikingly similar: They first crossed paths with the man on an online dating site. They agreed to meet him for drinks.
Then, they said, things get foggy. They don't remember much, just glimpses, they said: pushing the man away as they lay naked in bed, waking up and feeling as if something very bad had happened.
But did Jeffrey Marsalis, 33, drug the women and force them to have sex with him, as prosecutors implied, or, as his lawyers say, were the acts consensual?
A jury may get to decide. Common Pleas Court Judge Teresa Deni yesterday ordered Marsalis held on eight counts of rape and related charges. Deni is considering another charge and will hear from two more witnesses when Marsalis' preliminary hearing resumes tomorrow morning.
Seven women testified yesterday. Five of them said they met Marsalis, who is originally from Kent, Wash., between 2003 and 2005, when they'd had profiles posted on the dating Web site Match.com. Two others said they had encountered him while living in the same apartment building.
A Drexel University nursing student at the time, Marsalis told some of the women he was an emergency-room physician at Hahnemann University Hospital. He elaborated on the tale in at least some instances, telling the women he also did work for the CIA, and had been an astronaut as well as a Secret Service agent. He had identification cards that seemed to back his stories, the women said.
In one case, he even gave orders to a nurse who was tending one of the women during a brief hospitalization, the woman said.
In almost all of the instances, the women told similar tales of meeting up with Marsalis at Center City bars, then finding themselves feeling disoriented - feelings they said did not correspond with the amount of alcohol consumed.
Nearly all the women said they blacked out, then next remembered waking up in Marsalis' bed. In some cases, the women said they awoke to find themselves engaging in sexual intercourse with Marsalis. In others, the women said they were naked or scantily clad with no clear memory of what had taken place.
Some said they had clearly asked Marsalis to stop what he was doing. One woman said she tried to push him away.
Others said or did nothing. They said they were unable to. As one woman put it, "It was like waking up from surgery... just like being in a fog, just hazy. My body was there, and I could see what was going on around me, but I couldn't move."
The next day, most of the women said, Marsalis was "charming," as if nothing was wrong. He offered drinks of water and alternate clothing to wear. One woman testified that she felt violated but "I thought it was me messing up... . I blamed myself."
When cross-examining the witnesses, defense lawyers Kathleen Martin and Kevin Hexstall questioned one's decision to take a shower with Marsalis the morning after their encounter and two others who agreed to have lunch with him the next day.
After the hearing, Hexstall expanded on the idea that the women's testimony was flawed. All had consented to sexual acts and then, for some reason, regretted it, he said.
"It wouldn't be buyer's remorse if one of these girls went running to police," he said, "but not one of these girls called 911 or talked to a detective."
The women came forward, months or years later, after being contacted by Philadelphia police, Hexstall said. He implied that the District Attorney's Office was going after Marsalis because he was found not guilty in three other sexual assaults earlier this year.
But Lt. Tom McDevitt of the Philadelphia Police Special Victims Unit called Marsalis "a serial rapist, a predator" who took advantage of his victims' confusion the day after the attacks.
McDevitt said Marsalis also faces charges for "the same exact thing in Idaho." He said authorities there may extradite Marsalis after the case here is done.
Assistant District Attorney Joe Khan said after the hearing that it's not unusual for women who have been sexually assaulted to not contact police because they feel ashamed or embarrassed.
Marsalis' actions, Khan said, were those of "someone who would either seek or create situations where women were vulnerable." Further, Khan said: "All the women testified to symptoms they could not account for."
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11/2/2006 Followup Story --
Suspect in Phila. date rapes faces similar charge in Idaho
By Natalie Pompilio Inquirer Staff Writer
The 33-year-old man charged with raping at least six Philadelphia women between 2003 and 2005 is accused of a similar crime in a Sun Valley, Idaho, resort last fall.
Jeffrey Marsalis was charged with rape in October 2005 after allegedly giving a knockout drug to a female coworker, according to a report in the Oct. 12, 2005, edition of Idaho Mountain Express.
Officials with the Sun Valley Police and Prosecutor's Office would not comment on the case because of a gag order. But the Mountain Express article states that a 21-year-old woman reported she had been out with Marsalis at a Ketchum bar Oct. 8 and woke up in his condominium the next morning.
The article quotes a police news release as saying: "She had experienced sudden memory loss, impairment inconsistent with the amount of alcohol consumed, blacking out for an extended period of time, waking up feeling something had happened and short flashes of memory about the incident... . All of those experiences are consistent with having ingested a date-rape-type drug."
The Philadelphia cases are similar: During the first day of Marsalis' preliminary hearing Tuesday, seven women reported sharing food or drink with Marsalis, then feeling disoriented - feelings that did not correspond with the amount of alcohol consumed. Nearly all of them reported blacking out and waking up in Marsalis' bed. In some cases, they were engaged in unwanted sexual intercourse with him.
Marsalis' preliminary hearing continues today with two more women expected to testify that he sexually assaulted them.
In January, a jury found Marsalis not guilty of drugging and raping three other women he had met online. Three jurors interviewed after the trial told The Inquirer that while Marsalis seemed capable of the crimes, the prosecution lacked enough evidence for a conviction.
Marsalis came to police attention after a complaint was filed in February 2005, said Capt. John Darby, commander of the Philadelphia Police Department's Special Victims Unit. A lengthy police investigation that involved searching Marsalis' computer led detectives to more victims, he said.
The seven women who testified during Tuesday's preliminary hearing said they did not immediately report their crimes to police. Darby said the delayed reports were a challenge because investigators did not have physical evidence, such as drug scans.
But, he noted, the similarity of the cases should be enough.
"The theme repeats itself... . He treated them, seemingly, as a date, paying for food and drinks, and then it deteriorated to sexual assault," Darby said. "But in a traditional sense, he's a serial rapist, out on the highway preying on unsuspecting victims. He's just as dangerous as the guy who jumps out from behind the bushes."
In the Sun Valley investigation, the woman came forward early enough to be examined at St. Luke's Wood River Medical Center. Marsalis' home was searched, and items taken were sent to a state lab for analysis. The results were not available.
A Sun Valley police spokesman said the prosecution had "a really strong case" against Marsalis in Idaho.
Marsalis - originally from Kent, Wash. - spent time in Sun Valley during the early 1990s, according to police. Upon his return in 2005, he attempted to get work as a volunteer firefighter. At the time of his arrest, police said he was working for the Sun Valley Company, which operates the area's well-known ski resort.
On Howard Stern....a guy called into the show high on that stuff...incoherent....all he could say was KKKKKKK
Called it special K
sounded like a complete idiot
Well, the wellspring is BASF, then. Thank you for sharing.
BASF?
No clue what that means
But, GHB was not to obtain a few years back....kids were all f'd up at clubs on it...pissing themselves...passed out....it was gross.
Oh my, you are a bonehead. Put BASF into a google search. They are basic in Reppe chemistry and more.
Lots of women will believe something like that. Especially if you've established yourself as a truth-teller, like telling her how beautiful her eyes are.
Now THERE'S a smart girl!!!
I never claimed to be a chemist....but thanks for the name calling. I bet you have a ton of friends.
jon Carry is dum enuf 2 beleeve that, he got 4 d's in his Freshmann yeer of collidge, so he got stuk in vietnum untill he gave himmself enuf purpl Harts to get out. i think Barny frank usd that pikup lyne on Jon carry on they're furst date.
She's married, though.
No. Peace my FRiend. I meant no offence.
Except that these women chose to be in his company. Would rather be single than try an internet match site. To me it's like playing Russian roulette.
Unfortunately, I am neither. I really should know better by now . . .
Very nice looking.But,I DEFINATLY would ask her permission for a goodnight kiss!
Well, I know someone who was both an astronaut and an emergency room physician.
The CIA/Secret Service stuff you'll have to ask him about.
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