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.
Marsalis
And today's women are supposed to be smart, independent, and sophisticated?
They go out with an ugly beast like this, don't guard their drinks, pick up men at bars, go out with strangers from the internet???
Wake up, girls!!! Your life may be at stake the next time.
No evidence, no crime.
It's prudent to videotape yourself having sex. That way, you can prove that it was consentual later.
Can anyone tell me WHO would believe this???? Anyone??????
Blame the victims! Right.
I can assure you that over the past 6 years, we have reported each and every ounce of GBL to the FDA, as requried. This woman is nuts. The guy might be also, but he certainly didn't use a chemical component, unless he is a chemist with uncertain applied propensity. There is no way an average Joe can secure this chemical.
I wouldn't put myself in that situation.
Obviously these women didn't deserve what they got, but why on Earth would any woman just go meet some random stranger by themselves?
That's just asking for trouble.
Today's women are stuck on stupid. No one who is out of seventh grade should believe fantastic stories such as this rapist told. It's the "Sex and the City" syndrome that causes women to be this clueless to the dangers in hooking up with strangers.
I could call 3 people right now who could make GHB....it is not hard for someone with minimal chemisty knowledge.
These young women should all be forced to watch "Looking For Mr. Goodbar" before they hook up with strangers from the internet.
My wife and I were strangers when we met.
On Match.com.
At the front end, acetylene and formaldehyde under very high pressure to make 1,4 butanediol (high energy Reppe chemisty: the Feds know all about this).
This is equipment found in petroleum sites, like a refinery.
I suggest you submit the names of your 3 people to the FDA because they are certainly on a list and I question your intellegence on the matter for that reason.
Did she come to meet you alone the first time?
As a father, I would advise my daughters never to do this.
No. phencyclidine is not in the synthesis chain on GBL phencyclidine is the infamous "vet drug", a hallicenogen.
Fixed it.
Conservative women don't get ourselves in situations like this, because we have brains.
And guns.
I really don't think I should comment further. I expected some acceptance of chemical expertise, and I'm not going to elaborate further unless you want to FReemail me.
Feh, it is LA...you hear things....I may have exxagerated to make a point..I do not do that crap or associate with those who do, but in the gym world...GHB is common....I do know others that seem to have no problem getting it.
Shirley, you cannot think it is that hard to make when it is everywhere.
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