DATE: Tuesday, November 4, 1997             TAG: 9711040276

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B6   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 

DATELINE: MANASSAS                          LENGTH:   30 lines

MANASSAS RAPE TRIAL RAISES ISSUE OF ``DATE RAPE PILL''

Prosecutors say Brandon Michael Kelly raped a 15-year-old girl after she passed out after drinking a soda laced with a powerful sedative. The defense said the sex was consensual.

Kelly's lawyer, John Youngs, said in his opening statement Monday that the girl went to Kelly's apartment with a friend, flirted with Kelly, decided to spend the night and had consensual sex with Kelly.

Claiborne Richardson II, Prince William County assistant commonwealth's attorney, told the jury in his opening statement that Kelly doctored the girl's Mountain Dew with a Rohypnol tablet, then raped her when she passed out.

The so-called ``date rape pill'' can make a person quickly pass out and leave them with no memory of what happened. The small, white tablets are tasteless and show no trace when dissolved in a drink.

Kelly has pleaded innocent to rape, forcible sodomy, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and distribution of Rohypnol in the alleged June 9, 1996, attack.

The girl, now 16, testified she could remember little about the night, and felt ``dizzy'' after drinking the soda. She said she and Kelly kissed that evening, but it ``didn't mean anything.''

Testimony is to continue today.

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu