Today, lawyers made opening statements in a case concerning a sexual assault that allegedly took place in Akutan earlier this year.

Richard Stepetin, 45, has been charged with sexual assault in the second degree after a 24-year-old woman reported that he had sexual intercourse with her while she was unconscious and incapacitated.

Assistant District Attorney David Martin is representing the state of Alaska in this trial. In his account of the night, he described Stepetin as taking advantage of an intoxicated woman in a vulnerable situation. He said that the woman had passed out in Stepetin’s home at a late night gathering in January, and that Stepetin then took her to his bedroom and locked the door, despite another friend’s request that the alleged victim be taken to her own home. Stepetin then allegedly assaulted the woman that morning while alone in the house. In his words, he described the woman as “wak[ing] up not from a nightmare but to a nightmare.”

Public defender Jon Buchholdt disputed that version of events. In his opening statement, he said that Stepetin did not encourage the woman to drink, that he did not lock the door to his room, and that he did not initiate sex with the woman. Buchholdt says that the alleged victim was conscious, and that “this was not forceful rape, this was consensual sex.” Buchholdt also added that the woman was “fully aware” that she was engaged in a romantic encounter with the father of one of her female friends.

The jury was selected yesterday. Nine men and three women were picked, with two men chosen as alternates.

The trial will continue through the week, with Judge Steve Cole presiding over the case. The two lawyers are expected to finish presenting their evidence and make their closing arguments tomorrow afternoon.