ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, December 13, 1996 TAG: 9612130081
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: S.D. HARRINGTON STAFF WRITER
Earl Anthony Helaire III admitted Thursday that he lied to police the night he was arrested on a charge of rape, but a Salem Circuit Court jury acquitted him.
When police questioned him about the alleged rape Aug. 20, Helaire, 33, told them he had never had sex with his 30-year-old accuser, a Salem woman. But he testified Thursday that he did have consensual sex with her.
Asked why he lied, Helaire said: "Because I'm in Salem, Virginia. I'm a black man in a white man's world.
"I assumed that regardless of what I said, her word was going to be believed because of race."
The all-white jury acquitted Helaire after deliberating 2 1/2 hours.
Although he was acquitted, Helaire was returned to the Salem-Roanoke County Jail, said Salem Detective Tim Carroll. He is being held on two bad check charges. A Salem grand jury will consider today whether to indict him on those charges.
The accuser lived in the same apartment complex as Helaire, on Easton Road. She said Helaire was moving out of his apartment Aug. 20 and came by hers to offer her some dishes and plants that he didn't need. Later that night, he returned to her apartment with more dishes, she said
She said Helaire asked to borrow a knife, then held it to her neck, led her into her bedroom and raped her.
Testimony showed the 8-inch knife, which she said Helaire left behind, had no identifiable fingerprints. Helaire's attorney, Greg Phillips, urged jurors to acquit the defendant since he could not be connected to the knife.
"It's pretty close to consensual under her story, if it's not for the knife," Phillips said.
At the beginning of the trial, Helaire opted to represent himself with Phillips as co-counsel. He later let Phillips take control of the defense.
For the first time during the two-day trial, Helaire gave his side of the story Thursday. He said he and his accuser were acquaintances at the small, close-knit apartment complex where he had lived since June.
He said she invited him to her apartment in early August to watch videos and have dinner. But Helaire - who said he has a wife and two children in Texas - said he began to feel guilty about being there. Though he admitted a romantic interest in the woman, he said he made up an excuse and left during the meal.
"I felt uncomfortable because I'm a married man," he said.
Several weeks later, Helaire said, he had been accepted for a job at Valleydale Foods Inc. and wanted to move to an apartment closer to the job.
As he was moving, he dropped off some dishes and plants for the woman. They talked for a while, he said, and later that night he went back with more dishes.
Inside her apartment, Helaire said, they talked for a while. He said he apologized for walking out of their dinner engagement. The conversation led to hugging and kissing, he said, and finally to sexual intercourse in the woman's bedroom.
Afterward, the two talked about their relationship in her living room, Helaire testified. He said he told her there would be no further relationship, and the woman was offended.
Helaire said he never picked up the knife that his accuser said he had held to her throat.
The woman said she didn't understand how the jury reached its verdict.
"I am very distressed over the fact that it got so misconstrued," she said. "It was so ludicrous, the whole thing was a circus."
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