Rape suspect says sex was consensual

Trial of Chaz Carraway, 18, expected to conclude this morning

Chaz Carraway, 18, flatly denied Tuesday that he raped his former girlfriend.

Testifying on his own behalf in District Court in Kalispell, Carraway said he had only consensual sex with the girl at a party at his house last fall.

Police arrested Carraway, saying that the girl was much too inebriated to give consent to sex. The two dated for a year and a half, and continued a lingering, sporadic sexual relationship for about five months after they broke up, the girl said.

Carraway and the 17-year-old girl agree on a some points about what happened Sept. 23. They both say they were at the party, that the girl was drunk, and that friends helped her to bed and left her there.

The girl testified earlier that she regained consciousness to find Carraway having sex with her.

His version of the night is much different.

He said he went to the bedroom where she was taken because "I was just curious what she was up to and I wanted to check on her."

He said she woke up when he moved her feet, which dangled off of the bed.

"I asked if I could kiss her," he testified. She consented, he said, and a sexual interlude began. They talked about birth control and in the morning, discussed her boyfriend and how she would get to work that day, Carraway said.

Other teens at the party testified that the girl was stumbling, falling-down drunk. A girl with whom she was to spend the night decided that she couldn't take her intoxicated friend home with her. The alleged victim said she wanted to stay, instead, at Carraway's house.

After Deputy County Attorney Dan Guzynski rested his case, defense attorney Jack Quatman called more teenagers to testify.

Two girls testified that the victim was drunk. One said that from the room where the victim had been placed, she heard erotic moaning from a girl that night.

Another boy claimed that he saw a sex act between Carraway and the girl from outside an uncurtained window. Parts of his testimony, though, contradicted earlier statements he gave police about what he saw and even whether he had known Carraway for a week before the incident or had only met him that night.

The trial is expected to conclude this morning, with the case going to jurors today.

District Judge Kitty Curtis is presiding.