Testimony of missing red shirt, foot chase in rape trial

The testimony Wednesday in the rape and burglary trial of Bruce Braggs in Linn County District Court focused on a foot chase and evidence of a red shirt and shoe prints.

Braggs, 33, of Cedar Rapids, is charged with first-degree burglary and second-degree sexual abuse.

The trial continues 9 a.m. today. The defense could start its case late this afternoon. Reporter Trish Mehaffey is providing live coverage from the courtroom.

Police officers and residents testified they saw Braggs wearing a red shirt or or they recovered a red shirt along the path he was running as he led police on a foot chase from the Kirkwood Court Apartments, where an apartment was broken into and a woman was sexually assaulted June 3, 2007.

The red shirt is important because the alleged victim testified Tuesday her attacker was wearing a red shirt when he raped her. A roommate testified he was wearing a white shirt and several officers said he was shirtless when they apprehended him.

Three Cedar Rapids officers said when they arrived at the alleged victim's apartment she was wrapped in a green blanket and she told them her attacker went out the window.

Officer Christopher Bieber said he saw a black man running away from the apartment building. He was wearing a red shirt, black pants and something blue on his head. He lost the suspect, but when a security officer in another nearby building caught him, he was wearing the black pants and was shirtless.

Shannon Fox, 23, of Cedar Rapids, said she was on the balcony of an apartment building on Kirkwood Boulevard that morning having a smoke when she saw a black man tear off a red shirt as he ran through the parking lot.

He was a black male with a stocky build and Fox said Braggs looks like the man she saw that day.

Gazette carrier Rick Klein, of Cedar Rapids, said he saw a black man that morning walking between two houses in the chase area. He was shirtless and holding a white shirt. He identified Braggs in court as the man he saw.

Cedar Rapids Police officers Lucus Liddle and Joshua McAlpin testified they recovered a red and blue shirt and a plastic grocery bag from the chase area.

The victim testified her attacker used a plastic grocery bag as a condom.

In testimony favorable to the defense, Cedar Rapids Police Sgt. Joe Clark testified the alleged victim's bedding had no semen on it. The victim said at least two of the rapes occurred on the bed.

Clark also said Braggs shoes' size and pattern were consistent with the shoe impressions taken from the victim's apartment ledge window but were not an exact match.