Winfield man faces rape trial

By Marcia Moore
The Daily Item

May 21, 2008 11:47 am

— SELINSGROVE -- An 18-year-old woman testified Tuesday that fear kept her from running away from a Winfield man accused of raping her earlier this month behind a Routes 11-15 department store in Hummels Wharf.
The woman, whose name is being withheld due to the nature of the alleged crime, testified during a preliminary hearing that Jordan W. Younkin, 18, of 1125 Trutt Road, Winfield, raped her May 9 near his father's home behind Wal-Mart.
"I told him no' at least 25, 30 times," she said at the hearing held before District Judge Edward Mihalik Jr.
Under questioning by Snyder County District Attorney Michael Sholley, the woman said Younkin pushed her against a building and forced her to engage in sex acts.
She said she felt threatened by the young man she'd known for two years and had invited that night to go out for dinner or a movie.
"He just scared me," she testified.
Defense attorney Michael Rudinski, of Williamsport, asked the woman about specific details of the alleged assault and suggested the sex was consensual.
When asked how Younkin restrained her, the woman responded that he had his hands on her back and head at different times.
At one point the woman testified she couldn't recall events. Sighing, she put her hand on her face and began to cry.
Sobbing, she was led out of the courtroom by her mother and victim-witness coordinator Kelly Heeter. A few minutes later she was composed enough to return to the stand.
She said after the 30-minute assault, she and Younkin returned together to his father's house and watched television for a short while as she waited for her brother to pick her up.
The woman testified she called a friend that night and told her about being raped, and recounted the same information to other friends over the next few days.
Sholley objected when Rudinski asked about a phone call she taped between herself and Younkin three days after the alleged assault.
"This has nothing to do with the elements of the crime," the prosecutor said, objecting several times.
Mihalik allowed Rudinski to continue.
After several attempts to get the information, Rudinski was able to glean from the woman that state trooper Brent Bobb suggested she contact Younkin by telephone and tape record the call.
"I was never told to tape record the call," the woman said. "I knew if I called, (Younkin) would say what happened."
She testified that during the phone call she asked Younkin how many times she said no' the night of the alleged rape, how he felt about the encounter and how he thought she felt about it.
His responses, if any, were not disclosed at the hearing.
Sholley asked the woman before she left the stand whether she was confused or scared.
She responded that she was, raising her shaking right hand to demonstrate her nervousness.
After Sholley amended the complaint to withdraw involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and add two other sex-related counts, Mihalik ruled there was sufficient evidence to send all the charges against Younkin, including rape, sexual assault, aggravated indecent assault and indecent assault, to Snyder County Court.
Younkin is free on $25,000 cash bail.
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