Jourdyn Rawlins (right) is charged with two counts of rape in connection to an incident in 2020 and in 2021.
Jessica Orozco | The Lima News
LIMA — A 19-year-old charged with first-degree felony cases on two separate occasions will go to trial in October.
Jourdyn Rawlins, of Lima, is accused of raping two separate people — one on Sept. 13, 2020, through Sept. 14, 2020, and the other on May 26, 2021 — according to the indictments.
Rawlins’ lawyer, Robert Grzybowski, filed a motion to change the venue due to the amount of media coverage of the case, but Kohlrieser said she has already ordered 100 potential jurors to appear instead of the usual 70-80 and the court will question them through voir dire — a preliminary examination of jurors to ascertain any bias that could affect their decisions in the case.
Grzybowski also filed a motion to exclude a recorded video statement from one of the alleged victims from evidence, to which Assistant Allen County Prosecuting Attorney Kyle Thines said the state does not intend to use the video as evidence and may instead call the victim as a witness.
Lastly, Grzybowski filed a motion to dismiss the indictments because he did not receive the bills of particulars before the court-ordered date of Sept. 23. According to court records, these were filed on Sept. 28.
Thines said these weren’t filed on time due to an unforeseen serious medical issue, so Kohlrieser overruled the motions.
Both the state and the defense told Kohlrieser they are prepared to present their cases at the jury trial on Oct. 11 at 8:45 a.m.
