Suspect in sex crimes guilty of 4 of 16 counts

Could get more than 20 years

Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2009

A Charles County jury Friday convicted a District Heights man of four charges and acquitted him of 12 other criminal counts at a trial in a sexual attack on a woman the defendant met through a Craigslist advertisement.

Jurors returned Kelvin Cousar's verdict—guilty of unnatural or perverted sexual practice, third-degree sex offense, reckless endangerment and wearing and carrying a handgun—after about six and a half hours of deliberation. Cousar, 37, was found not guilty of three counts of first-degree sex offense, three counts of second-degree sex offense by force, four counts of using a handgun in a felony or crime of violence, first-degree assault and second-degree assault.

During Friday's closing arguments, the prosecution painted a picture of a bizarre sexual assault in the Waldorf Master Suites Hotel, while the defense called into question the credibility of the victim, who admitted she had taken cocaine before she met Cousar.

Deputy State's Attorney Anthony B. Covington urged jurors to set aside any biases about the victim, who testified that she offered erotic services in a Craigslist posting, leading to her April 12 meeting with Cousar. The prosecutor said Cousar likely felt the woman would be a "perfect victim" for a sexual assault because no one would believe her story.

"It's a case about degradation, dehumanization and the devaluation of a human being, really of the human spirit," Covington said.

Cousar's attorney, John Pikulski, said the victim's story had changed several times and argued that there wasn't enough evidence to convict his client. He also said certain details about the woman's account weren't believable, including her assertion that she didn't see Cousar's handgun until after they had sex.

"Is there something in what you heard that gives you hesitation and a reservation in making your decision?" Pikulski asked, adding that jurors must acquit Cousar if there is reasonable doubt.

He also pointed out the lack of physical trauma found in an examination of the victim following the alleged attack. According to Covington, the medical findings weren't inconsistent with a sexual assault, after which there are often no injuries.

Covington said the victim's story had remained very consistent since the April 12 incident and reminded the jury of her tearful testimony earlier in the trial.

"Do we believe she was acting?" he asked. Or, did jurors believe she was upset "because that trauma, that horror she lived through from this man came back?"

Both the victim and Cousar testified during the three-day trial. On Thursday, Cousar took the stand wearing a gray striped suit with a blue pocket handkerchief. His long, often rambling answers were several times cut short by Covington, which appeared to frustrate Cousar.

"You're trying to make it sound like I'm saying something conflicting," Cousar said, raising his voice slightly. The prosecutor later told jurors that the defendant seemed like a "pretty contentious" witness.

Cousar said he's arranged meetings with women many times, and his testimony detailed his routine. He said he would carry a cap gun in his shoulder holster so any pimps present would think twice before robbing him. The toy had a red tip, but in the holster, it looked like a real weapon, said Cousar.

On April 12, Cousar went to the Master Suites Hotel, paid the victim and began receiving sexual services from her, according to the testimony. At one point during the session, a television show distracted the victim from Cousar, and he reported feeling that her attention was divided, but he was not angry.

"It was killing the mood," he said. "After the TV show was off, she got into what she came for, so everything was good after that."

A couple of times that afternoon, the victim became upset about something that happened during the two- to three-hour encounter, but some extra cash calmed the woman, testified Cousar, who added that he never threatened or forced her to do anything.

"It's like a store. I paid her for her services," he said.

After their encounter, the victim implied she needed more money, and Cousar said he would visit an ATM to withdraw money.

However, he never returned to the hotel, Cousar told jurors.

In contrast to Cousar's verbose testimony, the victim spoke softly and haltingly on the stand as she described being dragged from room to room by her hair and forced to follow the defendant's commands.

Several times, Covington had to prompt the victim to speak up.

When asked how her meeting came about, she looked down and wiped her eyes, asking to be excused a moment.

The victim testified that she advertised her information on the networking Web site Craigslist, and after Cousar contacted her using the name "Trevon," she arranged to meet him at the Master Suites Hotel for an hour-long session. When Cousar arrived dressed in blue pants, a white shirt and a shoulder holster, he paid her $200 in cash, and for about a half-hour, the victim stripped and gave him a lap dance, according to her testimony.

The woman told jurors the two then had consensual sex, during which Cousar said he wanted the victim to "get nasty." The victim turned him down, she said.

As the two were getting dressed, the victim opened the blinds and saw Cousar was holding a gun, she testified. The victim reported that Cousar told her to take her clothes off and sit on the bed and she complied.

"I did because he had a gun and my life was at stake," she said.

Cousar's demands grew increasingly bizarre as he continued forcing the victim to perform various sex acts, all the while pointing a gun at her and repeatedly threatening to kill her, according to her testimony. He allegedly dragged her by the hair into the bathroom, ordering her to clean herself in the tub after she vomited. Then, forced to kneel in the living room, the victim believed she was going to die and began pleading for her life, she testified.

"I wanted to see my kids again," she said, crying on the stand.

After sexually assaulting her again, Cousar left the victim in the bathroom and ordered her to count to 100 before leaving, she testified. The victim drove around for a while, went home and traveled to a hospital later that day, she said.

Her decision not to seek out police didn't make sense for someone who'd just been brutally assaulted, argued Pikulski.

The victim testified she didn't want to go to police because Cousar told her he was an officer, and also because she was embroiled in a custody dispute and didn't want to reveal that she'd been selling sexual services.

A second woman testified that Cousar assaulted her in a similar way in February in Prince George's County. She also met Cousar through Craigslist, and when she refused to comply with some of his requests, he pulled out a gun.

"That's when he took control," the woman said.

Cousar's sentencing in the case is scheduled for Jan. 25 before Circuit Court Judge Amy J. Bragunier.

brodgers@somdnews.com