Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 23, 1990 TAG: 9003232106
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER
SOURCE: NEAL THOMPSON NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Phillip Allen Shephard, who lives in the county's Merrimac section, was arrested Sept. 25 - five days after the 28-year-old woman said she was raped in her home near Christiansburg. He had known the woman for years, the woman testified.
Shephard is being tried on charges of rape, attempted sodomy and entering with intent to commit rape. He pleaded innocent, but in an interview with sheriff's investigators after his arrest, he admitted he raped the woman.
"I did do it," Shephard was heard saying when the tape was played for jurors. "I entered the residence that night and I did what you said." Commonwealth's Attorney Phil Keith dropped a previous charge of abduction for lack of evidence.
Circuit Judge Kenneth Devore continued the trial after six hours of testimony. Shephard is scheduled to testify this morning.
The woman testified that she was at home that night with her children. Her husband was out of town and she went to sleep early after reading her Bible.
About 1:30 a.m., a man wearing a mask entered her bedroom, put two bandages and a blindfold over her eyes and took her to a bedroom downstairs, she testified.
He made her put on a pair of stockings and a garter belt and told her not to scream if she and her children wanted to live. He also told her repeatedly that he was being paid to do it, she told the jury.
"He told me to sit on the bed and he positioned me in a way he wanted and told me not to move," she said, sobbing and her voice shaking.
"He kept saying, `Do you want to live?' "
She testified that it sounded like the man was videotaping the attack.
A video camera later was found at Shephard's home, but no tape was found, testified Richard Absher, evidence technician with the Sheriff's Department.
Under cross-examination by Shephard's attorney, Keith Neely, the woman denied having had an earlier sexual relationship with Shephard. He was "like a little brother," she said.
In the taped interview, Shephard told investigators that he and the woman frequently flirted with each other.
When asked if anyone paid him to rape the woman, he said, "No," according to the tape.
"I don't have no excuse for it, sir," he said.
At one point, Neely argued that Shephard was improperly interviewed after his arrest because he had not yet been taken before a magistrate. He also asked Devore to drop all the charges and declare a mistrial. Devore rejected the request.
Shephard was fingerprinted by sheriff's investigators the day after the rape was reported. His fingerprints matched those on a bandage wrapper found in the woman's bedroom and he was arrested four days later.
The Christiansburg High School graduate appeared in court with his arm in a sling. He was injured two weeks ago in a motorcycle accident the night before his scheduled trial, which was postponed to Thursday.
by CNB