Missoula Area News

Friends testify that alleged Johnson victim is emotionally scarred

Posted: Feb 20, 2013 7:39 PM by Irina Cates - MTN News

MISSOULA - After a four-day break, the Jordon Johnson rape case resumed in Missoula Wednesday.

The former University of Montana quarterback stands accused of raping a woman at her apartment, after he'd come over to watch a movie.

Friends of the alleged victim and former roommates testified Wednesday about the woman's behavior after the alleged rape.

Some of them said it was hard to watch their friend go through this and lose her "inner glow."

Other friends of the woman cried as they described what she used to be like. Describing her as a bubbly, happy and someone who wanted to share her life with them.

After the alleged rape, they say she became more reserved and it seems like something is always wrong.

"Just quiet and like I said, reserved," testified the victim's friend, Kelsie Hanson. "Not herself."

"She became much more reclusive," testified Neil Sauer, the victim's former roommate and friend. "She'd spend a lot more time in her room. It seemed like her social life just kind of, pretty much disappeared."

When the defense questioned her friends, attorneys pointed out how the victim made jokes on Facebook a few weeks after the alleged rape.

They also suggested the woman sought out friends and told many of them what happened because she wanted attention.

The defense maintains that because the woman was bullied most of her life, she filed the rape charge to be seen as a victim.