Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Charles W. Adams took the stand in his own defense this morning in Kosciusko Superior Court I claiming that the injuries suffered by his wife were caused in his attempt to defend himself from her violent attacks. He is accused of beating, raping and sodomizing his wife while preventing her from leaving their home on June 2 and 3, 1998.
Chief Deputy Prosecutor Byron Nelson told the eight-man, four-woman jury on Monday, the first day of the trial, that Adams' wife didn't want to take part in sexual activity with him that night and, even though the couple are husband and wife, "No means no," he said.
Adams, 32, of Warsaw, and his wife met in August 1997 and married in March 1998. They are now separated, with a divorce action pending. He claims the two had consentual anal sex that night and that, although she liked to be tied up, no bondage occurred on the night in question.
Witnesses for the state included the victim, the detective who investigated the case and a 900-number telephone sex operator who told jurors she heard the woman's screams the night of the alleged attack. This is the second time around for these witnesses to tell their stories; a mistrial was declared in the case when it went to trial in April.
Kimberly Phelan, a telephone sex operator from Seattle, Wash., was flown in to testify in the trial against Adams. He is charged with battery, criminal deviate conduct and criminal confinement, all felony offenses.
Phelan told the jury that she called 911 after being disconnected from a call with Adams during which she heard a woman screaming and saying, "Please help me." She said she called 911 because "I felt someone was in danger on the other end."
Adams' wife's description of the events of June 2 and 3, 1998, included that she was beaten in the head with a whiskey bottle; she was hog-tied, gagged and had whiskey poured done her throat via her nasal passage while gagged; and was thrown into the bathtub with the shower turned on her when she began to bleed on the new carpet in the living room.
During her ordeal, which lasted from about midnight to 4 a.m., the victim said she tried to escape and tried to use the telephone, but she was unsuccessful in her attempts. She said she only managed to further infuriate Adams. Both of the Adamses were drinking alcohol that night, according to Mrs. Adams. However, Adams testified that he only had one beer and that was after the first verbal argument the couple had.
When police officers came to the Adams' home after Phelan called 911, Mrs. Adams said she told them she was OK. At that time, the alleged attack had ceased and she was clothed and had washed the blood from her face. She told the court that she didn't tell police she was in fear for her life because her husband was between her and the door - opened about 6 inches - and she didn't think the officers could get to her before he did.
Mrs. Adams denied threatening her husband with a knife that night although she admitted stabbing him Jan. 31, 1998, during another domestic dispute. Mrs. Adams will be sentenced on Wednesday for battery with a deadly weapon, an offense she pleaded guilty to last month in the same court she testified in on Monday.
Seated at a table with his attorney, Vern Landis, Adams unbuttoned the cuff of his long-sleeved shirt and displayed the scar from that attack as it was described in court on Monday. He again showed the 6-inch scar on his right forearm from the witness stand this morning.
The night of the June 1998 attack, Adams claims his wife again wielded a knife and he struck her repeatedly with an open hand "trying to get away from her and keep her away from me," he said. "It wasn't to hurt her or anything, but I was scared and I didn't want to get stabbed again."
Landis was unable to keep the jury from hearing from Detective Sgt. Paul Schmitt of the Warsaw Police Department that Mrs. Adams gave permission for police to search the Adams' home. Landis claimed that the search was illegal (a federal civil lawsuit filed by Adams for his unlawful arrest and the search of his home is pending against the police department in this matter).
Schmitt said Adams refused to talk to police when they arrived at his home after Mrs. Adams was treated at the hospital for her injuries. She was able to leave the house about 7 a.m. on June 3, 1998, and had a friend take her to the hospital.
Adams was then taken into custody on the suspicion that he inflicted the wounds on Mrs. Adams, whom Schmitt had interviewed at the hospital. A subsequent search of the home netted two whiskey bottles, towels and bloodied carpet clippings. Much of the blood was already cleaned up before police came to the house, but the victim told police there would be blood in the bedroom, the area from which the carpet clippings were obtained.
Adams' testimony today was that his wife drank heavily and, when intoxicated, "it seems like she totally became a different person. ... I was troubled by the way she drank all the time."
Both the prosecution and defense have rested their cases, with the matter expected to go to the jury by press time today.
