The woman accusing a former West Virginia State Police trooper of forcing her to have sex testified Wednesday that she didn't call anyone for help as he followed her to the house where she was staying because she was afraid he would bring other troopers there.
She said Snavely never made any threats, but was very forceful as he followed her into the house and up the stairs.
Cyrus showed the jury one frame of video from that night, where Fato went to the bathroom after being followed into the bedroom with Snavely.
She pointed to a dark line on the grainy image and asked if that was her belt buckle hanging down her leg.
"No," Fato said. "I don't see that."
Cyrus questioned Fato about her time in the bathroom and why, as she admitted on Tuesday, she had taken her tampon out. Fato testified Tuesday that she didn't sleep with a tampon inserted and was preparing to go to sleep. Cyrus said it would have been impossible for Fato to have sex with him if it was still in, implying that she didn't want him to know she was on her period.
"He didn't know I was on my menses because I wasn't planning on having sex with him," she said.
Cyrus also questioned Fato's claim that she hadn't told Snavely, as he testified, that she was "fixed."
Snavely said she told him she "had her tubes tied." On Wednesday, Fato said that she had had tubal ligation, a form of reversible birth control.
After repeated questioning about tampons and birth control, Fato got emotional for the only time during her two-day testimony.
"Forcing someone to have sex is forcing someone to have sex," she said. "I haven't been coached like your client."
Cyrus showed a video of Fato going into the bathroom for a short time after Snavely left.
"Did you put a tampon back in," Cyrus asked, eliciting an audible gasp from the room.
"No," Fato said.
Cyrus showed a video of Fato talking to Kim Knapp, who was lying on the couch in her living room after Snavely left. In the video Fato shrugs her shoulders as she talks to her friend.
"Is that where you were saying, 'I just scored,'" Cyrus asked.
"No," Fato said.
Reach Gary Harki at gha...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-5163.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The woman accusing a former West Virginia State Police trooper of forcing her to have sex testified Wednesday that she didn't call anyone for help as he followed her to the house where she was staying because she was afraid he would bring other troopers there.
"I was very concerned because he is [was] a state trooper and I heard they internally investigate each other. There was no one to call," said Julie Fato, who was pulled over by then-trooper Derek Snavely early on the morning of Nov. 16, 2008.
Fato said she didn't want to put her friends in jeopardy by calling the police, when questioned by her lawyer Lonnie Simmons in Kanawha Circuit Court.
"I was afraid because earlier on I said I wasn't interested and he said, 'Yes you are. You're very pretty.' He didn't care," she said.
Fato said that she started drinking heavily after the incident with Snavely, and went through a period of sexual promiscuity. She was going through a divorce and had recently broken up with her boyfriend of eight months when it happened.
She said she had tried very hard to block out the traumatic event, going to counseling to do so.
"Hopefully, after today, I'll have some sort of closure," she said.
Fato said all she wanted was for Snavely, who is now chief of police in Hinton, not to work in law enforcement again and that she was very upset when she was told by Kanawha County Prosecuting Attorney Mark Plants' office that there wasn't enough evidence to incriminate Snavely.
Lou Ann Cyrus, Snavely's lawyer, aggressively cross-examined Fato for much of the day Wednesday, questioning her about inconsistencies between her testimony at trial and depositions she gave the defense months back.
Originally, Fato said she had known Darryl Denson, the man in her car when Snavely pulled her over, and his cousin for several months. Tuesday she said she had known him for a few weeks. Denson testified Tuesday that he met Fato the night before.
On cross-examination by Cyrus, Fato couldn't remember many of the details of what happened on the night in question, although she originally testified about the details in an earlier deposition.
Cyrus played a part of the deposition for the jury where Fato said she knew she wasn't getting a DUI when she walked back to get in Snavely's cruiser on the initial stop. On Monday she had testified that she didn't know until she was in the car.
"I don't remember the sequence of events," Fato said.
Fato also said she didn't receive a warning ticket, as Snavely had testified.
"Whatever twisted things he wanted me to do, that is what I did," Fato said.
Fato testified that a counselor told her that her previous relationships with men, which Fato admitted had all been controlling, had conditioned her to follow Snavely's instructions that night.
She said Snavely never made any threats, but was very forceful as he followed her into the house and up the stairs.
Cyrus showed the jury one frame of video from that night, where Fato went to the bathroom after being followed into the bedroom with Snavely.
She pointed to a dark line on the grainy image and asked if that was her belt buckle hanging down her leg.
"No," Fato said. "I don't see that."
Cyrus questioned Fato about her time in the bathroom and why, as she admitted on Tuesday, she had taken her tampon out. Fato testified Tuesday that she didn't sleep with a tampon inserted and was preparing to go to sleep. Cyrus said it would have been impossible for Fato to have sex with him if it was still in, implying that she didn't want him to know she was on her period.
"He didn't know I was on my menses because I wasn't planning on having sex with him," she said.
Cyrus also questioned Fato's claim that she hadn't told Snavely, as he testified, that she was "fixed."
Snavely said she told him she "had her tubes tied." On Wednesday, Fato said that she had had tubal ligation, a form of reversible birth control.
After repeated questioning about tampons and birth control, Fato got emotional for the only time during her two-day testimony.
"Forcing someone to have sex is forcing someone to have sex," she said. "I haven't been coached like your client."
Cyrus showed a video of Fato going into the bathroom for a short time after Snavely left.
"Did you put a tampon back in," Cyrus asked, eliciting an audible gasp from the room.
"No," Fato said.
Cyrus showed a video of Fato talking to Kim Knapp, who was lying on the couch in her living room after Snavely left. In the video Fato shrugs her shoulders as she talks to her friend.
"Is that where you were saying, 'I just scored,'" Cyrus asked.
"No," Fato said.
Reach Gary Harki at gha...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-5163.
Get Connected