CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Prosecutors rested their case Thursday in the trial against former UNC Charlotte football player Kevin Olsen, who's accused of beating and raping his ex-girlfriend at an off-campus apartment in Charlotte last February.
During Thursday morning's session, Olsen's defense attorney, George Laughrun, requested a motion to dismiss on the ground of a lack of evidence. The judge denied Laughrum's request.
On day four, jurors heard from a friend of the accuser, who used to date one of Olsen's friends. The student said she joined the same sorority as the accuser and the two moved into an apartment in June of 2016.
She testified that on the night of the alleged rape, the accuser called her a few times, sobbing on the phone and the only thing she could hear was, "unlock the front door."
The described the accuser's injuries as a black eye and some bruises on the top of her arms. She said the accuser's eyelid was purple and swollen shut, and that the accuser told her Kevin beat her up in the bathroom after an argument.
On day three, jurors heard from the nurse who examined the accuser after the alleged rape. She said the ex-girlfriend suffered from sexual scarring but could not say if it happened that night or as many as 12 hours before.
A crime scene tech also took the stand and told the court about pictures and swabs she took of Olsen at police headquarters.
On Tuesday, a friend of Olsen's accuser testified in court. Alidia Hannon said she dated Olsen's roommate and was out with the couple in uptown and at Olsen's house on the night the accuser said Olsen beat and raped her.
Hannon testified about the group going out drinking and hearing from the accuser the next morning that Olsen had beaten her.
Under cross-examination, the UNC Charlotte grad told jurors the accuser did not tell her she was raped, and she wasn't sure about texts between her and the accuser about their plans to get drunk earlier that night.
Laughrun also asked Hannon about a text the accuser allegedly sent to her, saying Olsen did not rape her.
Also on Tuesday, Laughrun focused on the timeline of events leading up to the night in question. The accuser told jurors that she and Olsen had an on-again-off-again relationship. She said they'd been out drinking, started arguing, and that's when he started punching her.
"I was touching my eye because my eye hurt. He told me I had to stop crying because he couldn't have sex with me like that," the ex-girlfriend said.
Laughrun read phone records in the courtroom, saying the text message that the accuser said set off Olsen came in at roughly 3:11 a.m. The couple wasn't inside the bedroom where the alleged assault happened until around 3:55 a.m. He asked the accuser why, after Olsen was arrested, she sent a text message to a friend asking if Olsen "hated her".
"I was still very confused. I was still very upset," she said. "It was not easy walking away from him, that was probably one of the hardest things I've had to do. So, of course, I'm still going to be worried about him."
The accuser said she refused to leave while he was in a vulnerable state, but moments later, the ex-girlfriend claimed Olsen began punching her and hitting her. When she refused to have sex with him, the accuser said Olsen forced himself on her. She said she was able to sneak out of the apartment later that night while he was asleep.
The ex-girlfriend told investigators while she and Olsen were out drinking in February of 2017, they got into an argument and separated. She claimed that Olsen sent text messages threatening to kill her before the two reconciled and went back to an apartment off campus. That's when she claimed that Olsen became verbally abusive and tried to commit suicide.
Last week, Judge Karen Eady-Williams ruled while cameras are allowed in the courtroom, the accuser's face will not be shown on television, and her voice must be distorted during any testimony that airs.
Olsen is facing charges of second-degree forcible rape and second-degree forced sex. He and his attorney have maintained his innocence.
