HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The trial for a 48-year-old man accused of nine felony counts including three counts of rape, two counts of aggravated criminal sodomy, kidnapping, aggravated battery and criminal threat is underway.
The first case where Woodson Crable is charged involves two incidents involving one of two different victims. The first occurred back on Dec. 26, 2011, when the victim says she was raped on two occasions and threatened during the second. The second occurred on Dec. 28, where he allegedly forced her into sex.
That case really didn’t come to light according to the state until the second victim told sheriff investigators of being raped twice inside Crable’s home. These incidents occurred on April 9 and 10 of 2014. Senior Assistant District Attorney Steve Maxwell telling the jury that the victim in this case was severely beaten prior to the rape.
It was after this case came to light in the media that the case from 2011 came to light. The alleged victim in that case had apparently made a report the same year it occurred according to Maxwell, but somehow fell through the cracks and never made it to investigators.
The defense alleges that none of the incidents occurred the way the state says it did. Defense Attorney John Henderson admits that Crable and the alleged second victim had sex in April of last year, but that it was consensual. He also says the victim from 2011 only wanted a protection from abuse order against the defendant.
The trial is being held in front of Judge Tim Chambers with eight men and three women serving on the jury. There is also a female alternate juror.