After nearly two years, the jury reached a verdict Wednesday morning at approximately 10:45—a Gallipolis man was found guilty of two counts of rape.
Levi Canterbury, 23, was convicted of raping an Ohio University student in 2011. He is currently awaiting sentencing while being held at the Southeastern Ohio Regional Jail without bond, according to an Athens County Prosecutors Office news release.
“On September 10, 2011, at approximately 3 a.m., Canterbury picked up the victim, who was walking home alone, intoxicated, and offered to give her a ride. Canterbury took the victim to a parking lot and forcibly raped her,” Athens County Prosecutor Keller Blackburn said in the release.
Canterbury was caught during the jury trials Monday changing his story on the witness stand.
After denying to the Ohio University Police Department and the Athens Police Department during questioning that he had had sex with the woman, he told the court on the witness stand Monday that he did have sexual relations with her.
According to Canterbury, the woman not only gave consent, but she initiated it.
He has, however, always admitted that he picked the woman up to give her a ride home.
Canterbury admitted he picked the lost, apparently drunk student up along Ohio Rt. 82 on Sept. 10, 2011, drove her to a lit parking lot, raped her and dropped her off near the College Gate, according to court documents.
A DNA test identified Canterbury’s semen in the woman’s panties. She was also reportedly bleeding supposedly as a result of rape.
Canterbury noticed the blood as she exited the car and called 9-1-1 to report the intoxicated woman, according to a previous Post article.
Before dropping the woman off, Canterbury had stopped multiple times, including a place near Parks Hall, where the sexual encounter allegedly took place.
“The penalty for rape in this case carries a minimum mandatory three-year prison term and a maximum 11-year prison term,” Blackburn said. “Canterbury will also be subject to Tier III sexual offender registration upon his release from prison requiring him to register every 90 days for the rest of his life.”
kf398711@ohiou.edu
