A 39-year-old Alexander man charged with rape was cleared of wrongdoing by a Pulaski County jury on Wednesday.
Nathaniel Collier faced a potential life sentence on the Class Y felony charge. The eight women and four men deliberated about 90 minutes to acquit him during the one-day trial before special Circuit Judge Chris Piazza.
Jurors heard from Collier's accuser about their November 2015 encounter in Little Rock as well as a second woman who said Collier had sexually assaulted her during a 2014 incident she never reported to police.
There was no dispute that the 36-year-old accuser and Collier had sex at her Little Rock apartment, which was confirmed by the discovery of Collier's DNA from bodily fluids found on the woman's body and underwear.
Collier also did not dispute that he and the second woman had sex during an overnight camping date, although he told jurors it was all consensual. She said she only came forward after learning Collier was being charged with rape in 2018, telling jurors it took her years to come to terms with what Collier had done to her.
Prosecutors contended that Collier had taken advantage of the rape accuser when she was emotionally vulnerable -- her dog had died and she'd lost her job -- to force himself on her repeatedly during the overnight encounter about 1 ½ weeks before Thanksgiving 2015.
But defense attorney Bill James told jurors that what really happened is the woman was angry that a one-night stand with a former fling did not develop into the romantic relationship she wanted, describing the two as "friends with benefits." He told jurors the woman told conflicting stories about what happened to police and medical personnel.
"In the end, she had some 'buyer's remorse' and she didn't get what she wanted," James said. "How many lies are you going to accept on the way to a conviction? Why can't she just tell the truth?"
James, with co-counsel Alex Morphus and Hayley Ferguson, told jurors the defense version of events made more sense than the prosecution's case. Collier is a good, honest man who suffers from anxiety and post-traumatic stress syndrome induced by his two tours of duty as a Marine in Iraq and Kuwait, he told jurors.
He asked jurors to question why the woman had invited Collier over after she testified she ended the pair's previous relationship, begun when she was about 22, after six weeks because of Collier's temper and propensity for being rough. They did not have personal contact for years but remained in touch through Facebook.
"Why would you invite someone like that to your house? Why would you want someone like that knowing where you live? It defies logic," James told jurors. "She invited him to her house because she knows who he is."
Prosecutors told jurors Collier reached out to the woman through social media while she was depressed, resulting in her inviting Collier to "hang out" at her apartment one night for simple companionship.
They said the woman has never substantially wavered in her account of what Collier did to her, painting him as a cold and calculating predator who waited until she was alone to sodomize her then waited again until she had fallen asleep to rape her once more before leaving.
"Mr. Collier knew what he was doing," deputy prosecutor Justin Harper said. "He was going over there to get drunk and rape [her]."
Collier physically intimidated her into keeping quiet and not fleeing the apartment or otherwise calling for help, with the woman waiting until he had left to go to police, Harper said.
"She was scared. That's reasonable. She did what she thought was best," deputy prosecutor Beth Kanopsic said.
Is it reasonable to think the woman is pursuing a vendetta against Collier, or is it more likely that she's a true victim, trying to hold her attacker accountable, Kanopsic asked jurors.
"Why would she make this up? Why would she submit to a rape exam?" Kanopsic asked. "Why would she subject herself to seven years of the court system and then come in here and testify in front of strangers?"
Collier, who spent about 36 minutes on the witness stand, told jurors she was a willing partner.
"One thing led to another and we started kissing and had sex [the first time] on the couch," he said.
The woman went to bed a short time later and Collier said he followed, telling jurors they slept together but woke up later and again, "it kind of mutually happened. We were spooning in bed."
A self-employed computer network technician, Collier told jurors he and the woman had never had a romantic relationship. He said they had been "friends with benefits" in a casual sexual relationship when they were younger but that faded away when he met a woman he wanted to pursue romantically.
The woman spent about an hour testifying and answering questions, telling jurors she had met Collier through their participation in a local volleyball team. She told jurors they had dated before, which she ended after about six weeks because he was aggressive and possessive to the point of stalking her, saying she broke things off because of his propensity for rough sex.
The woman told jurors she had hoped Collier had matured when she invited him to her apartment, saying she expected her roommate and the roommate's guest to be staying, but they left after Collier arrived. She said she made it clear to Collier that she was not interested in sex, saying she was shocked when he suddenly kissed her.
When she resisted, he grabbed her, pushed her down on the couch and sodomized her, the woman said, telling jurors she was afraid to fight back and hoped that he would leave without hurting her further. In cross-examination, she acknowledged there were times she could have escaped or called out for help.
"I had a better chance if I complied ... if I didn't do anything," she said, testifying that she was "frozen" and "almost comatose" with fear. "All I could think of is, wait until he leaves. I was just trying to make it through the night."