Jordin vows appeal of rape conviction

Spokane businessman Arlin Jordin faces a minimum of 78 months in prison after being convicted by a Superior Court jury Thursday and immediately taken into custody for second-degree rape and indecent liberties.

Even if there were no detectable traces of “date rape drugs” in the victim’s blood, the jury apparently believed her alcohol level was high enough to show she couldn’t have consented to having sex with Jordin after she went to his apartment in November 2004, Deputy Prosecutor John Love said.

Defense attorney Bevan Maxey said his client, who turns 59 later this month, will appeal the conviction, based in part on Judge Neal Rielly’s ruling allowing testimony from three other women who said they had similar encounters with Jordin.

Prior to the trial, Maxey argued that such testimony would be highly prejudicial to the defendant’s right to a fair trial, but the judge allowed the jury to hear from the three other women based upon previous court rulings that allow prosecutors to show a “common scheme or plan.”

The jury got the case Wednesday and spent four hours deliberating, then returned for 30 minutes Thursday before announcing the verdict was decided.

Before it was read by the judge, Jordin handed his cell phone, car keys and what appeared to be a checkbook to his father, who sat in the front row with the defendant’s mother. The elderly couple left without speaking to reporters.

Jordin shed his suit coat and immediately was taken into custody by four sheriff’s deputies. Asked his reaction as he was led away in two sets of handcuffs, he only said: “Surprised,” adding a moment later that he will appeal.

Also in the courtroom for the verdict was the 36-year-old woman, identified as the victim of the second-degree rape and indecent liberties, who testified as the prosecution’s key witness.

She was 34 when the crimes occurred in Jordin’s apartment in west Spokane, where investigators said she was given hard liquor laced with drugs that rendered her “physically helpless or mentally incapacitated” before Jordin engaged in sex against her will.

“I starting saying, ‘Oh, thank God,’ ” the victim related after the verdict was read. “I’m pretty overwhelmed about everything.”

She took a vacation day from work to be in the courtroom when the verdict was read, the victim said. “The verdict could have gone either way, but I wanted to be there no matter what,” she said.

The victim said she expects to prepare a statement to read to the court July 13 when Jordin is sentenced.

“The jury took the evidence, considered it very carefully and came up with the right decision,” the prosecutor told reporters in the courthouse hallway after the verdict.

Love said that in reaching their unanimous guilty verdicts, the jurors, whom he privately interviewed, believed the state had proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the elements of the crime were proven – that Jordin engaged in sexual intercourse with the victim without her consent.

Whether the victim was under the influence of liquor, drugs or both, “she was in a position to not comprehend what Mr. Jordin was doing to her,” the prosecutor said. “They all believed she was affected by something and wasn’t able to consent.”

Love credited the victim for “having the courage” to come forward and testify.

In addition to the victim, court documents say, police identified eight other women who reported being raped and drugged by Jordin and seven others who believed they were given drug-laced drinks by him.

The rape conviction carries a sentencing range of 78 to 102 months, but Jordin could be held in prison for life by a parole board that will monitor his case and set release conditions. If he’s eventually released, he must register as a sex offender.

“Justice was done,” said Spokane police Detective Jan Pogachar, who headed the investigation and followed Love out of the courtroom. Officer Mylissa Coleman, who was involved in the initial stages of the case and the search of Jordin’s apartment, nodded in agreement but didn’t offer a comment.

Maxey said he was “extremely disappointed” in the jury’s findings, particularly because there was no scientific evidence that the victim had any kind of prescription drugs in her system, only traces of marijuana and a blood-alcohol equivalent of 0.14.

“Yes, Mr. Jordin will appeal,” the defense attorney said.

“He wasn’t anticipating this verdict. He always has stood firm in his position of what occurred – that it was consensual.”