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Opening Statements Begin In St. Mary's Rape Case

Nathan Agwiak, age 32, is accused of raping a woman in St. Mary's in 2015.

Wednesday was the first day in the trial of Nathan Agwiak, age 32, who is accused of raping a woman in St. Mary’s in 2015.

“That morning, [the victim’s] life changed,” said Assistant District Attorney Dara Gibson in her opening statement yesterday. "She didn’t see it coming.”

In the spring of 2015, said Gibson, Agwiak and the alleged victim went to the same small party at a friend’s house. They were drinking in the early hours of the morning and the alleged victim went into a friend’s bedroom to go to sleep. She says that she woke up with Agwiak on top of her, and shouted out until her friend came to the room.

Agwiak denied sleeping with the alleged victim when a State Trooper questioned him about the crime, but Gibson told the jury that key DNA evidence would prove that he did.

Assistant Public Advocate William Montgomery acknowledged that Agwiak lied to law enforcement. “Nathan Agwiak has made some mistakes,” he said. “But his biggest mistake was not being honest with the cops.” His client panicked, Montgomery said, but he did not sexually assault anyone. He claims that the sex was consensual. 

Agwiak is charged with sexual assault in the first and second degree. He has pled guilty to varying degrees of assault four times in the past decade. Our reporting on his trial is ongoing.