UPDATE: A Boone County jury is expected to hear closing arguments Friday at the Boone County Courthouse in Columbia in the high-profile case of a former Missouri state trooper charged with felony sexual abuse in Columbia. Our news partner KMIZ reports 32-year-old Jeffery Durbin also took the witness stand on Thursday and faced cross-examination from Boone County assistant prosecutor Risa Perkins.
HERE IS OUR ORIGINAL STORY FROM THURSDAY AFTERNOON:
A jury has been listening to testimony this (Thursday) morning at the Boone County Courthouse in the high-profile case of a former Missouri state trooper charged with felony sexual abuse in Columbia.
32-year-old Jeffery Durbin of Madison is also charged with misdemeanor kidnapping.
939 the Eagle News was in the courtroom today, where the alleged victim testified for a few hours about what happened that night in 2023 at the Hampton Inn and Suites near Faurot Field in Columbia. The alleged incident happened during a 2023 law enforcement training session. The woman, who is a police officer in the St. Louis region, testified this morning that Durbin put his hand in her pants in his hotel room during a night of drinking and reviewing paperwork for their law enforcement training.
Defense attorney Scott Rosenblum grilled the witness in cross-examination, telling her that she had 11 or 12 beers that night. The woman testified that she had four beers at dinner with other officers that night at Stadium Grill and another two that evening in Durbin’s hotel room. Rosenblum questioned her on why she didn’t study or meet with Durbin in a hotel meeting room or in the lobby. She testifies that she was expecting other officers to join them in the hotel room and that she considered it drinking with a friend she had made. Another law enforcement officer did join them in the hotel room but later left. The woman and Durbin were in the hotel room for several hours.
The woman testifies that she has suffered trauma from that evening; Rosenblum says that she had opportunities to leave the hotel room and did not. Boone County assistant prosecutor Risa Perkins told the jury in opening statements that Durbin pushed her back into the hotel room. The trial will essentially come down to the issue of consent.
The trial is expected to continue into Friday.
