A former Little America security guard was ordered Tuesday to stand trial on charges of raping a bride who was a guest in the hotel.
Derrick Brewer, 25, admitted to police he had sexual intercourse with the 38-year-old woman but maintains it was consensual because the woman did not resist him in any way.The alleged victim had also made several romantic advances earlier that night toward two hotel employees, according to testimony at a preliminary hearing Tuesday.
Police said Brewer used a "pass" key to enter the woman's room about 6 a.m. on Jan. 22, woke her up and then raped her.
Events leading to the charges against Brewer began about midnight on Jan. 22, when the woman stumbled out of an elevator into the hotel lobby and demanded that employees remove her new husband from the room.
The woman was intoxicated and had used cocaine earlier that night, she admitted, but wanted her husband out of the room "because he was acting crazy." Hotel manager Darrell Hill and Brewer removed the man and two other people from the room and then allowed the alleged victim to return, Hill testified.
Later that night, about 5:30 a.m., Hill said he and Brewer checked on the woman because one of her earlier guests telephoned the hotel and said the woman might commit suicide.
Hill said he met Brewer at the room and found him crouching as if to unlock the door. A double-lock on the door apparently prevented Brewer from opening it, though Hill's key did open the second lock, he said.
The two first knocked but got no answer and then entered the room. They found the woman sleeping and snoring, Hill said. Brewer wanted to wake the woman so he could finish his report of the incident earlier in the evening, but Hill wouldn't let the security guard wake the guest.
The two then left the room, but Hill didn't relock the second lock on the door, he said. "I just didn't think of it," he testified.
The victim said she was awakened on the bed sometime around 6 a.m. by Brewer, who was tapping her on the arm.
"He kept saying he couldn't believe my husband would leave me on my wedding night. He told me not to be scared because he was a security guard," the woman testified.
She said her attacker then demanded that she take off her underwear, but she didn't. "I was petrified. I was stiff," she said.
So the man took off her underwear and then raped her, she said. Afterward, he left $12 on the bed "for breakfast," the woman testified.
She said she could not remember much about the evening and "kind of blacked out" as she was being raped. She did not recall demanding that the man stop. "But I did not want him there. He was not welcome in my room," she said.
Third District Judge Robin Reese said it didn't matter that the woman didn't try to stop her attacker. He found probable cause existed to try Brewer for the crime.
Brewer was fired from his job the day of the alleged attack. He had worked at the hotel for only six weeks. He will appear in court again on May 9 for a scheduling conference before 3rd District Judge J. Dennis Frederick.