A jury is deciding whether a Durango man accused of sexually assaulting a woman at gunpoint in 2017 is guilty after closing arguments were made Monday morning.
The trial for Devin Bond began May 14. It is unknown when the jury will come to a decision.
Bond is accused of sexually assaulting a woman on the night of Oct. 14, 2017, with two other co-defendants, James Zink and Anthony Fitts.
Bond’s defense attorneys Brian Schowalter and Katie Whitney maintained Monday that Bond had consensual sex with the woman and that her story of what happened that night has not been consistent.
“(The woman’s) story is totally off the rails,” Whitney told jurors. “It changes as we go.”
The woman initially told investigators all three men were strangers that “gang raped” her at gunpoint, Whitney said. But in subsequent interviews with authorities, Whitney said it came to light that the woman knew the men and had engaged in consensual sex.
Fitts, who had been sentenced to six years in prison, was exonerated last week after the woman testified at Bond’s trial that the sex between her and Fitts was initially consensual.
But Deputy District Attorney Sean Murray said the sex was no longer consensual once Zink threatened the woman with a gun. At this point in the night, authorities say Fitts was no longer in the car.
Zink ordered the woman to perform sexual acts or be shot, Murray said.
“If this was consensual sex, why the gun?” he told jurors.
Zink, who pleaded guilty, received to 14 years in prison and 10 years of probation.
Bond told investigators a shotgun was in the car, and that Zink racked it. But Bond’s attorneys say there was no serious threat of shooting her. Murray, however, said it’s clear the woman feared for her life.
“You can’t threaten someone with a gun in exchange for sexual acts and claim it was consensual,” Murray said. “That doesn’t make any sense.”
Whitney criticized investigators with the Durango Police Department for “willful ignorance” for not thoroughly vetting the woman’s account of what happened that evening, calling it a “big sensationalized” story. Whitney said the woman made the story up to get herself out of trouble.
“This is a show, folks,” she said.
In the prosecution’s rebuttal, Deputy District Attorney Jessica Kiel called Whitney’s statements a form of “victim blaming.” Kiel said the woman was traumatized, and as she was more open to talking about the incident, more facts came to light.
Kiel said that both Bond and the woman’s story lined up on the two most important details of the case – a shotgun was brought out and racked, and that sex continued after Zink threatened her.
“Consent stopped when that gun came out,” Kiel said. “She’s hoping she doesn’t die that night.”
The 12 jurors went into deliberation around noon Monday. As of 5 p.m., a verdict was not in.
jromeo@durangoherald.com
