Woman Testifies in USC Case

A 22-year-old USC graduate student testified before a Los Angeles Municipal Court jury Tuesday that three Trojan football players dragged her into a campus dormitory room and sexually assaulted her last summer.

The woman, a peer counselor in the USC Summer College program, said defendants Michael Jones of Panorama City, Willie McGinest of Long Beach and Jason Oliver of Bakersfield pinned her to a bed and put their hands under her full-length summer dress.

The defendants are charged with misdemeanor counts of false imprisonment, battery and sexual battery. Alex R. Kessel told a jury in the defense’s opening statement that testimony would show “a fabrication on (the woman’s) part.”

The woman said the incident occurred July 20, the last day of the Summer College, after she returned a box of art supplies at 12:30 a.m. on the eighth floor of a dormitory where male students resided.

The woman testified that she first saw Oliver, who insisted that they dance in the hallway. After they stopped, she said Oliver got her into a headlock and dragged her to the hall’s end. She said she believed he was kidding with her.

Moments later, however, she said McGinest grabbed her and threw her into a room occupied by other students who were wrestling. She said she then was dragged across the hall into Jones’ room, where she was shoved onto a bed with Jones. Then, she said the door was locked and the lights were turned out as Oliver and Jones restrained her.

“I told them to stop, but they were holding me really tight,” she testified. “Willie said, ‘Don’t struggle, you’ll make it worse for yourself.’ ”

The woman said she felt hands touching her breasts and vaginal area. She said she bit Oliver three times in the back just before a male counselor entered the room.

The woman said Oliver left with the counselor and then McGinest left. She said Jones pinned her to the bed for about two minutes. He got off her when she threatened to have him arrested, she testified.