Teen testifies she awoke to friend sexually assaulting her  

CEDAR RAPIDS - A 19-year-old woman told a jury she awoke on a sofa after drinking alcohol at a party last August and felt confused and that 'something was wrong.”

The woman, who was 18 at the time, testified she realized she was in the basement at the home of her 16-year-old friend, Jayden Goos, and he was sexually assaulting her.

She felt panicked and told him 'no,” she said tearing up.

She said Goos stopped and told her to put on her clothes. He also started getting dressed. She grabbed her phone and sent a group text to about 15 friends, asking for help.

The woman said Goos kept telling her it 'wasn't rape. ... It's what friends do.”

Goos, now 17, of Cedar Rapids, is on trial in Linn County District Court this week facing a charge of third-degree sexual abuse. A jury of seven women and five men was selected and testimony started Tuesday afternoon. The trial is expected to last all week.

The woman said after she sent the texts, Goos asked her to move closer to him on the sofa and she did because she didn't want him to know she was scared. She was afraid he would try to stop her or hurt her if he knew how she felt - that this wasn't consensual.

'I tried to keep him calm,” she said, adding he is bigger than her and could have stopped her from leaving.

A male friend responded to her text for help and said he would be there in about four minutes. She told Goos her friend was there to pick her up because she wanted to leave right away. Goos told her she could find her keys in his vehicle and didn't try to stop her but he continued to say it wasn't rape, she testified.

The woman said she didn't know what to do initially but after talking with her friend they eventually went to her house.

She was 'panicked, shocked and sad” thinking about telling her parents, she said.

After telling her parents, they all went to the police to file a report and then to the hospital for a sexual assault examination, she testified.

The woman said she never had romantic or intimate feelings for Goos. They were just friends. They played sports together and even boxed and 'wrestled around,” but other friends were always with them.

During opening statements Tuesday, Tyler Johnston, Goos' lawyer, said this isn't a 'he said, she said” case. It's a 'he said, she doesn't remember” case because she was intoxicated.

Johnston said the woman invited Goos to the party at 10:30 p.m. on Aug. 10. She was comfortable with him and they had never been physical before or he had never 'forced” himself on her. After she asked Goos to take her home, Goos asked if she wanted to come to his house. Johnston said this was something that had happened before.

Johnston said Goos believed the sex to be consensual based on her actions.

The prosecution is to continue its case Wednesday.

If convicted, Goos faces 10 years in prison.

l Comments: (319) 398-8318; trish.mehaffey@thegazette.com