A girl told a Criminal Court jury on Tuesday that she was raped by a fellow student on the stage at Brainerd High School after school was out on Dec. 5, 2018.
Romalace Williams is on trial for rape in the courtroom of Judge Barry Steelman.
Defense attorney Charles Wright said video showing the girl walking with Williams to the stage does not indicate that she was being forced. He said at one point she put his arm around her waist.
The girl, who was 14, at the time, said she was looking for her sister so they could catch the bus, and Williams told her she was in the auditorium. She said she only knew Williams because they were in the same science class.
She said she kept following Williams into the auditorium because he insisted that her sister was there. However, she said when they went behind the stage curtain that he forced himself on her. She said he bit her on the neck and choked her on two occasions during the incident.
She said he pulled down her pants and had sex with her.
The girl was asked by attorney Wright about putting Williams' arm around her and she admitted she had.
She also said at one point she saw someone sitting in the audience. Asked why she did not cry out, she said she did "at the top of my lungs."
She said afterward she noticed "a big puddle of blood" where she had been lying.
She began crying afterward and then was taken into the cafeteria by the principal while police were called. She was taken to the hospital and then to the Rape Crisis Center.
Belinda Martin, who was assistant principal at the time, said the girl was hysterical and she first could not understand what she was saying. She said when she texted the principal that she stated she had been raped he instructed her to quit asking questions of the girl.
Attorney Wright said the video also showed another student fondling the girl's breasts after the incident in the auditorium. The girl said that happened, and he was a friend who was having some sort of relationship with her sister.