The ACT Director of Public Prosecutions is going to speak directly to the jury to summarize his case and prove it. At the 2019 Capitol.
Prosecutor Shane Drumgold told jurors that Bruce Lehman would try to prove that he brought Brittany Higgins to the Capitol in the early hours of March 23, 2019. She won’t hold back. Or I didn’t remember.
The former Liberal Party official has denied the allegations and pleaded not guilty to sex without consent.
Prosecutor Shane Drumgold urged jurors not to be distracted by “red herrings” and that the case “is not about the treatment of other women in the Capitol or the ‘Me Too’ movement.” said.
His claims fell into five categories. He first tried to prove that Bruce Lehrman was attracted to Brittany Higgins.
Fiona Brown, former boss of Liberal Party staffer Brittany Higgins (pictured), was among those who gave evidence. sauce: AAP / Mick Tsikas
Prosecutors then focused on the various reasons Bruce Lehrman stated for his appearance in Congress early Saturday morning.
Drumgold highlighted an audio recording of Bruce Lehman recorded on the Capitol security intercom. There, Mr. Lehrmann can be heard telling security personnel, “I’ve been asked to retrieve some documents.”
Prosecutors are trying to contrast this with emails Mr. Lehrmann sent during his dismissal.[s] The claim that I notified security was for public purposes. “
“Jurors, he certainly made that inference. He articulated it,” Drumgold continued.
Drumgold put forward two other reasons Lehrmann gave for joining Congress. According to evidence previously testified in court by his boss, Fiona Brown, Mr. Lehmann told her he went back to drink whiskey, and Mr. Lehmann said in a police interview that he had received the keys to his apartment and attended the question time folder. He said he was back in Congress.
Drumgold suggests that drinking whiskey is the only believable reason. He said no court session was held during the week of the alleged assault and there was no time for further questioning.
“Away from here, at 1:40 a.m., it was agreed that he was on his last day of work and that Parliament would not be in session for the next week. Won’t you take notes? [of the work] Can you come in and do it on Monday? the prosecutor interrogated.
“This was clearly not true.”
“The defendant took the plaintiff [Ms Higgins] Because the Capitol was the most convenient place to leave a drunken and vulnerable petitioner alone. “
Third, the “core question to be answered in the jury room” suggested by Drumgold is whether there was sexual activity.
He spoke to Ms. Higgins’ authenticity and her “vivid and compelling” account of what happened to her and what happened to her, as well as seven people who gave evidence at the trial. Two weeks after the outbreak was suggested.
These contemporaneous reports include conversations with Senator Linda Reynolds, Chief of Staff Fiona Brown, two police officers, and her ex-boyfriend Ben Dillaway.
The last two categories Shane Drumgold says are whether Ms. Higgins consented to sex or Mr. Lehrmann was reckless in obtaining consent.
In response, he alleges Brittany Higgins was too drunk to consent to sex, pointing to security camera footage that Higgins drank 11 drinks in four and a half hours and later died in the Capitol. In the footage, she claimed she “didn’t do enough” – the balance of wearing one shoe instead of two.
Prosecutors say the “essence” of the case is whether Brittany Higgins fabricated an allegation to save her job after security guards found her sleeping naked in a minister’s office. suggested.
Mr. Drumgold said, “There was not a single piece of evidence to suggest that her job was in jeopardy,” or that Mr. Higgins “followed it for three-and-a-half years and is cross-examined before you.” There is a reason,” he insisted.
“If she did, it was elaborate,” Drumgold said.
“If this is a hoax, she’s quite the actor, upset, upset, broken… This includes being unrecognizable to her own mother.”
The trial is ongoing and lawyers will wrap up the case soon.
Bruce Lehrman’s trial: Prosecution suggests he brought ‘drunk and vulnerable’ Brittany Higgins to Congress
