Witnesses say they had sex against their will

Two witnesses told a Spokane jury Thursday they had sex against their will in 1998, as prosecutors attempted to show that Spokane businessman Arlin Jordin was involved for years in a scheme of giving drug-laced drinks to women.

The 59-year-old landlord is on trial in Superior Court, accused of second-degree rape and indecent liberties stemming from a November 2004 incident involving a woman who is now 36.

That woman testified Wednesday that she was raped by Jordin after going to his residence, looking for an apartment to rent, then accepting hard liquor drinks as the two talked.

To prove Jordin was involved in a “common scheme or plan” of giving women drinks, then making unwanted sexual advances, the prosecution was allowed by Superior Court Judge Neal Rielly to call three other women who shared common experiences after meeting the defendant.

Before two of those women testified, the judge instructed the jury that their testimony could not be used to prove Jordin “is a person of bad character” or inclined to commit crimes.

The first of those, a former professional woman who now lives in Portland, said she was estranged from her husband in 1998 when she met Jordin after responding to a newspaper advertisement for a room to rent.

The woman went to Jordin’s apartment and spent several hours talking with him and accepting a margarita he prepared. Later, after accompanying him in his blue Jaguar convertible for errands, she returned to his apartment and accepted a drink of hard liquor from a blue bottle.

Shortly thereafter, the witness testified, she remembers being partially clothed “on the floor and he was on top of me.”

“Did you know what was happening?” deputy prosecuting attorney John Love asked the woman.

“He was having sex with me,” she responded.

“Did you want to have sexual intercourse with Mr. Jordin?” the prosecutor followed up.

“No,” the witness said. She said she told him to stop, but he refused.

The woman said she returned later that evening to the home where her estranged husband lived but didn’t tell him, fearing “he would leave me.” Weeks later, the couple divorced.

The witness said she didn’t report the incident to police because she was “very embarrassed” and didn’t feel “like a victim because I went to his house willingly.”

Defense attorney Bevan Maxey asked the witness about statements she gave Tom Clouse, a reporter for The Spokesman-Review, in 2004 that appeared to contradict portions of testimony she offered Thursday. Clouse has been subpoenaed to testify regarding news stories he wrote about Jordin that prompted other women to contact police.

The second woman who testified Thursday said she rented a room from Jordin and accepted his invitation on one occasion to have a drink at his residence in May 1998.

After opening a bottle of wine and having a glass, Jordin offered her a margarita, which she accepted, the witness testified.

She soon began feeling strange, she told the jury. “My body just started to react in a way I had never experienced before.

“I started to feel a little bit foggy,” she said. “My mind, it was really hard to describe. It was like my mind was confused.”

As Jordin began to kiss her and make unwanted sexual advances, the woman said she didn’t tell him to stop and was unable to resist.

“I wasn’t able to,” she said in responding to a line of questions from the prosecutor. “It was like my mind was really confused. I was incapable of expressing that or defending myself.”

After Jordin completed a sex act, the witness said she drove home in a confused stupor.

“Was there a reason why you didn’t call authorities?” the prosecutor asked the witness.

“I felt really ashamed of the incident, and I just really wanted to forget that it happened,” she responded, softly weeping as jurors appeared to be listening intently.

Six years later, she contacted police in 2004 for the first time after reading news accounts in The Spokesman-Review about Jordin.

The defense attorney asked the witness if the “less-than-flattering” news coverage in 2004 “gave you the opportunity to put all this on his shoulders?”

The witness said the media accounts did prompt her to contact police.

“I felt a sense of responsibility to share a similar incident,” she testified.

The jury trial is scheduled to resume Monday.