A Suffolk Superior Court judge reviewed motions filed by a former MIT student who was accused of raping a BU student.
In a hearing Friday, Judge Janet Sanders called several requests posed by Samson Donick’s defense during the motion hearing “unusual.”
Donick, 22, was indicted on several felony charges, including aggravated rape, in connection to an October 2015 attack against a Boston University student in her room at 33 Harry Agganis Way.
Donick is accused of sexually assaulting a then-20-year-old BU student, who said she did not know him, after he and three other non-BU males were signed into a dorm building by two female BU students in the middle of the night, according to a press release issued by the Suffolk County district attorney’s office.
In addition to aggravated rape, Donick faces charges of indecent assault and battery on a person, burglary and breaking and entering a building at nighttime with intent to commit a felony.
During Friday’s hearing, Sanders reviewed motions proposed by Donick’s attorneys. The motions included avoiding referencing the woman as “victim,” allowing the review of statistical evidence concerning the frequency of campus sexual assaults and admitting evidence of past misconduct by the BUPD lead detectives in the case.
Donick’s attorneys, who called the Commonwealth’s case “thin,” said stranger rape is exceedingly rare on college campuses, and that by including statistical evidence about campus sexual assaults, it could be seen that investigators failed to consider potential BU student suspects.
The defense also said that two BUPD detectives tasked with investigating the sexual assault were “corrupt” and “dishonest” because at the time of the incident, they were allegedly involved in fraudulent conduct regarding logging their work hours.
Attorneys said this was significant because someone who was recently disciplined has a vested interested in “getting in good graces” by providing a testimony which would support the university.
Sanders did not make an immediate decision for all of the motions proposed. Donick’s trial is scheduled to begin with jury selection April 12.
