Medley found guilty of sexual battery, assault

Jan. 31—Editor's note: The Chronicle does not identify victims of sexual assaults unless requested by the victim. She will be labeled Jane Doe for purposes of this story. Details from the trial may be offensive to some readers and are of an adult nature. Personal discretion is advised.

Defense attorney Jeff Vires, in front of a Cumberland County jury, gently placed on the floor a stained track suit jacket.

Kneeling beside the garment, Vires took care to place the clothing as if he was laying out the day's attire on a bed.

The scene was too innocent compared to testimony of the victim who was wearing that track suit when sexually assaulted.

Vires then looked up at the jury and asked, "If Mr. Medley did what the state claims and kneeled over (the victim) as they said, then how did semen get on both sides of the jacket?"

DNA was a major stumbling block for the defense, but so was the shaky testimony of a victim in her 70s. Vires' question was something to ponder, unless one took the defendant's own words into consideration.

Brian Keith Medley, 53, described as homeless, Thursday was on trial for the Dec. 5 or 6, 2018, sexual battery and domestic assault on a victim described as being in her 70s.

On the surface, it would seem bringing Medley to trial was a moot issue. If convicted, Medley could be sentenced to the maximum of four years in prison at 35%, as a Range II offender, under state law.

Medley may have already served his sentence, having been in custody well over 500 days.

Avoiding registration on the sex offender registry and strict community supervision plus a mark on Medley's criminal record was in the balance.

The day-long trial included testimony from five state witnesses. For the defense, an audio recording of Medley's mother's testimony given during a preliminary hearing in General Sessions Court was heard along with the defendant's testimony.

Jane Doe was the state's first witness for Assistant District Attorneys Philip Hatch and Alice Knowles.

A native of Indiana who said she found herself in Crossville in 1990, Doe testified after her husband died, she moved between Crossville, Indiana and Maryland, where she cared for her father until his death.

Back in Tennessee, Doe said she was in-between homes when in September 2018, she found herself sleeping on a sofa in Medley's home.

After Medley's two-day drinking binge and angry exchange between Medley and his mother, Jane Doe testified an angry Medley dropped his pants as he stood over her while she lay on the sofa.

"The more he drank, the more violent Brian became," Doe told the jury.

What followed was an angry assault during which Doe testified she suffered blows and kicks from Medley, resulting in injuries to her face and elbow.

Doe said she suffered a fractured hip, broken ribs and broken nose, missing teeth and smashed hearing aid that she said Medley stomped on.

Doe accused Medley of attempting to pull her pantsuit down and then dropping his own pants. She accused Medley of trying to force her to touch him and of him attempting to force her into oral sex.

Doe testified she resisted the best she could and that the overtures of sex were unwanted and unsolicited.

The attack ended with Doe accusing Medley of self-gratifying himself while keeping her pinned down with a knee.

Sperm ended up on the track suit jacket and in the her hair, Doe testified.

She also accused Medley of pouring bleach on her.

No medical records were introduced noting the claim of injuries, but a third person testified that he had seen the injuries.

After the attack, Doe was able to walk about three blocks to the Crossville Police Department, under the guise of going to the store, and she was interviewed by then Det. Donnie Hammons. The detective now works for Fairfield Glade Police.

Hammons testified he remembered Doe arriving at the station, "disheveled and upset," wearing a stained track suit.

Hammons interviewed Doe and gathered evidence from her, including a DNA sample. The next day, the detective went to the Penny Lane address to question the suspect.

All evidence taken from Doe that day was presented to the jury.

CPD Sgt. Henry Hunnicutt is the city police department's custodian of evidence. After the trial's lunch break, he testified he delivered evidence in the Medley case to the TBI lab in the Nashville area.

District Attorney's Investigator Chris Ison testified he took oral swabs from Medley's mouth for the TBI lab to analyze and compare with any DNA found on the track suit.

TBI special agent and forensic scientist Melitza Kennedy was the last state witness.

She told the jury she has conducted thousands of DNA tests over her career with the TBI, including analysis of body fluids presented to the lab in the Medley case.

Comparing a stain on the front right arm of the track suit jacket with fluid obtained in the oral swab from Medley, Kennedy testified she found a match.

Also present was the DNA of a second person, a female, which was believed to be that of Doe.

Per TBI protocol, not all stains on the jacket were tested because such work is extremely costly and time consuming.

Kennedy told the jury she selected the stain with the most probability of producing the most evidence to study.

Her work was then checked off by two veteran forensic scientists before her analysis was reduced to a final report.

Vires scored the TBI agent for not having tested all the stains on the jacket, but Kennedy remained steadfast in that she followed department protocol and did her job.

Vires also challenged the agent for not being able to say for a certainty that the second DNA finding was male or female. Kennedy responded she was satisfied it was female.

When the state ended its presentation of evidence, Vires repeated his motion for a directive verdict of not guilty, stating the state had not proven its case.

He also told Criminal Court Judge Gary Mc-

Kenzie the state had not met the standard of law because no evidence was presented that Medley had touched intimate parts of Doe's body as required.

State prosecutors opposed that argument and McKenzie ruled the issues raised by Vires were questions the jury would have to decide.

Medley then took the stand, but at times, his articulation and responses to questions were rambling or hard to hear and under-

stand.

He testified he met Doe at the Bread of Life Rescue Mission and again at a homeless camp near Art Circle Public Library.

While at Bread of Life, arrangements were made for Medley to move into a government-subsidized housing unit on Penny Lane off Fourth St. were made.

Medley said he offered to let Doe sleep on his sofa for only a few days, but that it turned into weeks with Doe refusing to leave.

He added that he did not have a sexual relationship with Doe, but he did ask her and others who had spent the night in his home for sex.

Medley claimed the two had consensual sex two or three times, something Doe had denied earlier.

"You had something they wanted, and they had something you wanted, is that right?" Vires asked Med-

ley.

"If that is what you want to say, then OK," Medley responded.

Medley also testified that it was a common practice of his to watch pornography videos and to masturbate, which he explained as the reason his semen would have been found on the track suit.

He said he had used the track suit to clean himself after such acts.

He denied a claim from Doe that she was held against her will in the house.

Under cross examination from Hatch, Medley told the jury at one point, "I told her she had to leave, or I was going to go to jail over her."

Medley denied asking Doe for sex and added he didn't think "she was in her right mind."

He added that her injuries were explained away because she was feeble and prone to stumbling and falling down.

He also admitted to spitting on the victim as another way to explain the presence of his DNA on the track suit.

Medley's mother, Charlotte Smith, who reportedly lives 260 miles from Crossville and was unable to attend the trial, testified through an audio recording of a preliminary hearing.

She testified that she saw Doe on the morning of Dec. 6 and that the victim did not look injured and scared.

She testified she hastily left Medley's home when the two got into a shouting match over Medley's drinking and Medley's anger over not being given a piece of land to live on when his father died.

She added that she could not allow Medley to live with her because of his drinking and had on one occasion ordered him out of her house for that reason.

In closing arguments, Knowles reminded the jury that Hammons testified he found Doe's injuries consistent with her story, which was backed up by the DNA match.

Knowles challenged the jury to hold Medley accountable for his crimes.

Vires argued that the TBI lab work was incomplete and scored the special agent for not testing all the spots and stains on the track suit.

"Testing one spot might be good enough for government work, but it's not good enough for my client whose life will be severely and adversely affected" by the evidence presented if convicted, Vires said.

He also said both the victim's testimony and the state's proof were full of inconsistencies.

"Her testimony is just not believable," Vires said.

The defense attorney concluded his final argument by spreading the track suit jacket on the floor and asking the jury, "If he did what the state said and kneeled over the victim and ejaculated, then how did semen get on the front and the back of the track suit?"

Hatch ended closing arguments by reminding the jury, "The (victim) took the witness stand in this case ... and Brian Medley would have you believe he is the victim in this case ... she is just an old woman who falls."

Hatch challenged the jury to review all the evidence and believe a woman in her 70s who did not have to take the witness stand and subject herself to the humility and embarrassment of what happened to her, or believe a man who blamed an older woman's clumsiness and his claim of her mental issues with a verdict of guilty.

The jury of seven women and five men started deliberations around 3:50 p.m. Thursday. Jurors paused at 5:25 to ask to see a police report noting whether the crime occurred on Dec. 5 or Dec. 6, 2018.

Because the jury is to only consider testimony given and evidence presented during the trial, McKenzie, by law, could not provide the incident report requested because it had not been presented.

The jury then deliberated 25 more minutes before signaling the court they had unanimously reached a decision.

The jury found Medley guilty of both counts in the indictment. State law sets punishment for sexual battery and domestic assault

at two to four years in prison.

McKenzie immediately revoked any bond and set a sentencing hearing for March 4.

At that time, it will be decided if the sentences are to be served concurrently, or one at a time, and whether they will be served in lockup, on supervised probation, or a split combination of both.

Michael Moser may be reached at mmoser@crossville-chronicle.com