Both sides rest cases in rape trial

The man said his former girlfriend was injured in a fight with several women.
By NANCY TULLIS
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- A jury in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court was expected to begin deliberations this morning in the case of Alonzo J. Green, 31, a Youngstown man accused in 2001 of the beating and rape of his former girlfriend.
Prosecutors said Green kidnapped the then-20-year-old woman from her Salem-area home in April 2001 and drove her to an abandoned building in Youngstown, where he held her captive for several days. He raped and severely beat the woman during the period of captivity, causing significant injuries, then dumped her outside St. Elizabeth Health Center and drove away, prosecutors said. The trial began Monday.
Assistant Prosecutor Dawn Krueger and Green's lawyer, Ted Macejko Jr., rested their cases Wednesday afternoon and do not intend to call other witnesses.
Previous plea
Green pleaded guilty in 2001 to attempted rape, felonious assault and kidnapping, and in 2002 Judge Maureen A. Cronin sentenced him to 24 years in prison, more than the 15 years prosecutors recommended.
The 7th District Court of Appeals, however, later overturned Green's plea and sentence and remanded the case back to Judge Cronin for trial.
Macejko said Green had a different defense counsel in 2001, and he believes part of the reason the appeals court remanded the case was because it determined that Green's legal assistance was ineffective.
Wednesday's testimony
Green testified in his own behalf Wednesday about events in 2001 that resulted in the charges. He said he and his former girlfriend shared an apartment in Salem and were both working in that town. He said on the days in question in April 2001, they had an argument over the phone while she was at work; then later when he was asleep in the Salem apartment, she came in and began yelling at him and had what he thought was a knife.
Green said he ended the argument by saying their relationship was over and he wanted to go to someone else's house in Salem. He said the woman drove him instead to a Youngstown home and parked the car.
He said he stayed in the car while she went up to the house. She fought one on one with a woman on the porch and then several other women -- he doesn't know how many -- came out and began fighting as well.
Green said when the fight was one on one, he did nothing, but when other women began fighting, he broke up the fight.
They spent that night in the car, not in an abandoned building, Green said. The following day they spent in a motel on Belmont Avenue in Trumbull County, he said.
Green said the woman's face was bruised and her mouth sore from the fight with the women. He said he got the motel room and went to sleep, but the woman left.
He said she was gone about two hours and does not know where she went. Green said the two had sex in the Salem apartment before the fighting began over the telephone, and again when the woman returned to the motel.
Taken to hospital
Green said the woman never refused his sexual advances. He said he took her to St. Elizabeth after he realized how black and blue her face was -- she had two black eyes -- and he was concerned about her.
He said he dropped her off at the hospital but did not throw her out of the car and speed away. He said he knew she was angry about ending the relationship, so he did not return to the hospital, nor return to the Salem apartment to retrieve his belongings.
Green said he has had no contact with the woman since that time, nor had he even seen her until her court appearance this week.
tullis@vindy.com