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| Webster gives testimony as own witness |
| By Kristin M. Kraemer |
| Published: 04/21/2009 |
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PASCO -- Locked in jail for 11 months with only pictures of his girlfriends to spark his fantasies, David Webster said it was curiosity in 2003 that led him to have sex with his cellmate. Webster took the stand on the eighth day of testimony in his rape trial and denied the allegations, saying it was consensual sex between two men. "I'm not a homosexual. It was just like a bicurious thing," he told jurors. "It's something that a lot of other people in the jails do." In his hourlong rambling testimony, Webster gave graphic details of what he claimed happened in that cell over the course of six hours. The man, now 31, has testified that Webster raped him three times overnight Sept. 30, 2003, and threatened to kill him if he resisted. But Webster countered that it was "a consensual plan that I manipulated, and (the man) manipulated to think it was rape. He was not distraught until the next morning." Webster told jurors he was embarrassed about divulging the specifics, saying, "I didn't want to come tell y'all my personal business but I got to." Yet as he painted a more-than-vivid picture for the jury, Webster interrupted himself to ask court reporter Cheryl Pelletier, "Are you getting that?" While most of the jurors watched Webster, a few looked away. Webster is acting as his own attorney in Franklin County Superior Court on three counts of first-degree rape. His sudden decision to stop calling witnesses and put himself on the stand Monday afternoon followed a contentious exchange with Alan Hooper. Hooper had served time in the Franklin County jail with Webster. He was called as a defense witness to help bolster Webster's claims of being mistreated in jail. However when asked what he thought of Webster, Hooper didn't hold back. "I think you're a predator, dude. I think you're a very dangerous person. I think you manipulate," he said. "I think every time you're behind those bars, you just manipulate every time these guards come in. These guards are not bad persons." Webster shouted back that he had called Hooper to testify for him, not on behalf of corrections officers. Hooper currently is in custody at the Benton County jail. When he was brought into court unshaven and wearing green jail garb, Judge Cameron Mitchell asked jail staff to allow Hooper to clean up and put on street clothes to testify. Hooper accused Webster of looking over his shoulder one day in jail when he called his 88-year-old father, then later phoning the man once Hooper was out of jail. He also said Webster threw "piss" on him in jail. "I don't like you, I don't like what you represent and I don't really care about you," Hooper testified. "I don't care about you either," Webster responded. Webster was leaning over the defense table and pointing fingers at Hooper. He ignored repeated orders from Mitchell to quiet down and let his witness complete his answer before asking another question. "What do you know I represent?" Webster asked. "Fear. You try to put fear in people," Hooper said. As Webster became more irate and agitated in front of the jury, he quickly found himself surrounded by four officers with the state Department of Corrections, an administrator with the Franklin County Sheriff's Office, a jail officer and two bailiffs. Mitchell ordered Webster removed from the courtroom, and asked the bailiffs to take the jury out. Webster was subdued when he returned after lunch and -- when Hooper said he was sorry if he'd been a problem earlier -- Webster also apologized. Webster has said that the trial is part of an "ongoing conspiracy" in the legal and law enforcement community since his first Franklin County case in 2002. Five lawyers and a West Richland police officer subpoenaed last week by Webster were excused Monday by Mitchell, who said questions Webster had for the men were not relevant to his rape case. The testimony he sought from the attorneys ranged from alleged statements that he was being oppressed to an interview with a fellow inmate who can't be found. Read more. If link has expired, check the website of the article's original news source. |
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