Jacob Hebert and John Jones Jr. They were immediately ordered held without the right to bail, pending a sentencing hearing next week. The victim, who testified at the beginning of the trial Jan. After about an hour of hanging out, the victim, who was 19 at the time, and Hebert had consensual sex, but at one point Hebert asked if Jones could join in.
The woman objected, according to testimony, but the pair forced themselves on her and each took turns raping her while she told them to stop and said no. Assistant District Attorney Joseph Yorlano told jurors that the men did not take no for an answer. The issue at trial was not whether both men had sex with the woman, but whether that sex was consensual.
Hebert took the stand as the defense's only witness and claimed while he was having sex with the woman, she invited Jones to join them. Hebert said he was bothered by that, but not enough to leave or chastise the pair, and instead sat on the couch and played "Angry Birds" on his phone until they were finished. After, Hebert said, he and Jones went to a supermarket to buy ingredients to make tacos, a claim backed up by surveillance video. During cross-examination of Hebert, Yorlano said parts of his story didn't make sense, including that Hebert didn't seem to be uncomfortable having sex in front of Jones, but only became so when the woman allegedly invited him to join.
Yorlano also said it didn't appear to make sense that Hebert would sit quietly in the same room and play a video game, despite being "weirded out" and having his feelings hurt. Following the verdict, both men were taken into custody and will remain there until their sentencing hearing, scheduled for Feb.
A conviction on a charge of aggravated rape carries a maximum penalty of life in prison. It is not yet known what sentence prosecutors will seek nor what sentence recommendation attorneys Nathaniel Green and Edmund St. John IV, representing Hebert and Jones, respectively, will counter with. Bob Dunn can be reached at bdunn berkshireeagle. Edit Close.
