Rape or consensual sex? Former Geneva doctor's trial begins
Attorneys made their opening statements Monday in the trial of a former Geneva doctor charged with the sexual assault of a 26-year-old woman who was a party guest at his St. Charles house in 2012.
Prosecutors suggested Mark G. Lewis, 60, drugged her and she ultimately could not give consent; defense attorneys said the sex was consensual and painted the woman as in need of money.
Lewis was charged in July 2014 with aggravated criminal sexual assault and criminal sexual assault. The charges stem from the night of Nov. 16, 2012, when Lewis threw a party at his former house on the 0-99 block of Squire Lane.
Kane County Assistant State's Attorney Greg Sams told jurors the woman arrived about 9 p.m., had about three glasses of wine and was “feeling fine” around midnight but was not intoxicated.
The party had emptied out, and it was just the woman, Lewis' girlfriend and Lewis, who made the woman a drink.
“As she drank that whiskey the defendant gave her, all of a sudden, things changed to her. It was a drastic change,” said Sams, who noted trial testimony would show she had difficulty speaking and sitting and had to be carried to a second-floor bedroom. “She almost immediately blacked out.”
The woman woke up about 4:30 a.m. on the floor and naked from the waist down. Lewis, who was shirtless, was next to her. Lewis said she had urinated on her clothes so he threw them into the wash, Sams said.
However, both washing machines in the house were broken at the time. The woman eventually got back her clothing, but it was still dirty. The next day, she went to a hospital in McHenry County, where she lived, for a rape kit, Sams said. The DNA collected matched Lewis, Sams said.
Tests of the woman's urine showed the presence of several drugs she took for medical conditions, but also Demerol, an opioid pain medication the woman said she was never prescribed or took knowingly, Sams said.
Kane County Assistant Public Defender Cecily Carlin said the only thing Lewis did wrong was cheat on his girlfriend.
“He had consensual sex that evening,” Carlin told jurors, adding the defense would call experts to describe how the medications the woman was on would lead to memory loss and amnesia when mixed with alcohol.
Carlin also noted the woman sued Lewis for damages before he was charged with sexual assault in July 2014. In an effort to protect his medical practice and employees, Lewis settled the suit for $50,000 and also gave the woman a 1959 Pontiac Bonneville, Carlin said.
Lewis faces a prison sentence of six to 30 years if convicted.