Crime & Safety

UPDATE: Alleged Rape Victim Testifies in Court

Defense for two Morristown men, 17 at the time of alleged incident in September 2011, called sex consensual.

The teenage girl who said she was raped after drinking a bottle of an unknown liquid at a Hazel Street residence in September 2011 testified in Morris County court on Monday, according to a Star-Ledger article.

The girl, 17 at the time of the alleged incident, said during the juvenile probable cause hearing that she drank from a 20-ounce bottle at the home, took a few steps and then fell to the floor. When she woke up, one of the men accused of the incident were on top of her, according to the article.

Attorneys for the men on Tuesday called the alleged victim’s story “nonsensical” and a “bunch of baloney,” according to MorristownGreen.com, and said the sex had been consensual.

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The pair of publicly unidentified Morristown men were 17 at the time of the alleged incident, when they and 19-year-old Tyrec Philips, also of Morristown, are accused of the sexual assault. The case has thus far been before Morris County Superior Court Family Division Judge Michael Paul Wright, but prosecutors have sought to try the unidentified pair as adults.

If convicted as adults, the men could face up to 20 years in prison, compared to the maximum juvenile sentence of four years.

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The two men, now 19, remain in the Morris County Juvenile Detention Center while their trial status is determined. Their parents and attorneys have lobbied unsuccessfully on several occasions for them to be released to house arrest. Philips, the only adult at the time of the alleged incident,  in September.


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