Rape trial defendant to testify

The defendant was expected to testify today.
By NANCY TULLIS
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Prosecutors anticipate that a jury in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court will begin deliberations today in the rape trial of a 43-year-old Youngstown-area man.
The jury in Judge Maureen A. Cronin's court heard opening arguments and the testimony of the complainant and other witnesses presented by the prosecution. Prosecutors said the defendant, David Hackett, is expected to testify today.
The complainant said she left her children with her aunt Oct. 7, 2004 and went to a party. The woman said she drank some but did not take any drugs. She left the party with a man she had met there for the first time and had sexual intercourse with him.
He shot at her
The woman said they later began to argue in the man's car. She got out of the car and the man began shooting at her. She said she not only heard the shot but also saw the discharge from the gun's muzzle. The shot missed her head by inches, she said.
The man sped away, knowing his shot missed, she said. The woman said she then began to go door-to-door in the area trying to get help. In the early morning hours, no one answered their doors. She didn't know where she was.
Defendant picks her up
The woman said Hackett was driving along the road and stopped to ask her if she needed help. She said he was polite and seemed to want to help her. She said she was not afraid of him at that moment, and thought he was going to help her, so she got into the car.
The woman said Hackett then drove around a while and stopped at an abandoned house with an overgrown lawn. She said it was on a dark street and there was no one around.
She said he took her into the abandoned house and had sex with her, then dropped her off at a truck stop in Weathersfield Township, where she called police.
The woman said she did not know where Hackett took her, but believed it was somewhere in Youngstown. She estimated she was with Hackett around 3 a.m. Oct. 8.
A Youngstown police officer told the court he was called to the truck stop around 4:40 a.m. Oct. 8 to investigate a possible sexual assault. He said the woman went to the hospital by ambulance.
tullis@vindy.com