Kellen Winslow II‘s defense is going after the credibility of the alleged victims in his rape trial. In a very short opening statement on Monday, attorney Brian Watkins attributed many of the incidents to infidelity on his client’s part, but he insisted that there wasn’t anything illegal about the encounters. The lawyer also tried to impeach the story of a 77-year-old woman who claimed that Winslow masturbated in front of her at a gym Jacuzzi this year. He said that a witness claimed not to have seen Winslow naked at the time of the incident.
#KellenWinslow – Defense attorney delivers a very short opening statement. He said the sex was consensual, not rape. That’s it for today. First witnesses will be called tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/PRAErwrzgH
— Cathy Russon (@cathyrusson) May 20, 2019
Winslow faces a slew of charges in San Diego County, California, including rape, battery against elder or dependent adult, and indecent exposure. The defendant had a pattern of sexually abusing women who were either complete strangers or had recently met him, Deputy Assistant District Attorney Dan Owens said Monday. The defendant allegedly preyed on five women, ages 17 to 77. One alleged incident goes back all the way to 2003. Winslow allegedly raped a 17-year-old female at a party.
Three other alleged victims were in their 50s. The defendant allegedly raped two, and exposed himself to a third.
“He victimized victim five women,” said Owens. “Five separate women who knew nothing from each other, who had never met one another, who are either complete or total strangers to Kellen Winslow, or who had recently met him, and had fleeting interactions with him.”
The prosecution said jurors will see hear witnesses corroborate the allegations. For example, the now-adult woman who accused Winslow of raping her when she was 17 said she separately told an ex-boyfriend and her current husband about the rape — long before media attention hit the case.
Winslow was an unfaithful husband, Watkins told jurors. The defendant had been with his wife since they were 13, and he cheated on her “numerous” times during the relationship, said the defense. Winslow wasn’t proud of it, but he never denied it, said the attorney.
The lawyer said he wouldn’t dignify the actions by calling them affairs.
“Because they weren’t,” he said. “They were sex. No-strings-attached sex.”
[Screengrab via Law&Crime Network]
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