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Closing arguments expected Thursday in former USU football player Torrey Green’s rape trial

By https://author-service-images-prod-us-east-1.publishing.aws.arc.pub/sltrib/25f533d9-8a26-4150-a6fe-9c441c502344.jpg Jessica Miller Schreifels
 | Jan. 16, 2019, 3:59 p.m.
| Updated: 9:16 p.m.

Torrey Green and his lawyer Skye Lazaro listen as the judge announces that closing arguments will be held the next day during his rape trial, Wednesday, Jan.16, 2019 in Brigham City, Utah. Green is accused of raping multiple women while he was a football player at Utah State University. (Eli Lucero/Herald Journal via AP)

Brigham City • Closing arguments are expected Thursday morning in the trial of former Utah State University football player Torrey Green, who is accused of sexually assaulting six women.

Green is charged with 11 felonies in connection with reports from the women who say the athlete sexually abused them between 2013 and 2015 when he was a student in Logan.

After nearly two weeks of testimony — including from Green himself, who on Tuesday took the stand and denied raping anyone — the jury is expected to begin deliberating Thursday.

Closing arguments had been anticipated to start Wednesday afternoon, but a delay in finalizing jury instructions pushed the case into the following day.

Prosecutors have leaned on similarities in the women’s testimonies to paint Green as a predator, someone who used his charm to get women alone before forcing sex on them.

Green told jurors that he did not sexually assault anyone. He said he had consensual sex with four of the women, and did not have sex with two other accusers. He testified that he regrets not telling those women that he did not want a serious relationship.

“I wish I didn’t break their hearts,” he testified.

Green’s defense attorney has told jurors that the women who have accused him of sexual assault were upset with Green for various reasons and were “needing attention.”

This jury will consider charges connected to the six women who testified last week.

A seventh alleged victim, who reported that she was assaulted during a party at Green’s apartment, will not testify at this trial. A judge ruled last year that her account was not as similar to the others. Her case will be tried separately.

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