MAN ACQUITTED OF RAPING WOMAN WHO WAS ON `DATE-RAPE' DRUG

The first Utahn charged with sexually assaulting a woman under the
influence of a "date-rape" drug was acquitted late Friday.

During a three-day trial before 3rd District Judge Judith Atherton, David
Wayne Memmott insisted he and the victim had consensual sex.

The 24-year-old woman testified she yelled while Memmott raped her, but was
unable to effectively resist because she had ingested a drug called Gamma
Hydroxy Butyrate (GHB).

Following four hours of deliberations, a 3rd District Court jury found the
43-year-old Layton man innocent of first-degree felony rape. He had faced
up to life in prison.

Unlike Rohypnol, another date-rape drug known as "roofies," GHB is not
illegal to possess and can be ordered by mail from other countries.

Rohypnol is odorless, tasteless and easily slipped into a victim's drink,
causing unconsciousness and amnesia. GHB, which has a bitter taste,
reportedly reduces inhibitions and enhances sexual pleasure.

Higher doses of GHB can cause muscle relaxation and induce sleep.

According to trial testimony, the alleged victim's boyfriend had a quantity
of GHB powder mailed to his Sandy home.

The night of the rape, March 8, 1997, the boyfriend mixed a drink
containing GHB for himself and the woman, she said. The woman had
complained of having a stressful day and her boyfriend said the drug would
relax her and help her sleep. The woman testified she took the drug knowing
her boyfriend would not give her anything harmful.

But she said trouble arrived when Memmott -- a friend of the boyfriend --
dropped by about 11 p.m and also took some GHB. Soon after, the boyfriend
went to his bedroom and passed out.

Memmott, who had been massaging the woman's temples, began touching her
elsewhere, she testified.

Disturbed, the woman said she crawled and stumbled to her boyfriend's
bedroom, where she begged and tugged at him, but could not awaken him.
Memmott dragged the woman back to the living room and raped her, she
testified.

She later told police she was "paralyzed" by the drug. A medical
examination revealed trauma to the woman's genitals, and abrasions on her
back.

But Memmott testified he and the woman engaged in "interactive and
passionate" love-making, including "kissing, nibbling, touching and
tasting." He denied the woman protested or yelled. "She was responding in
kind," Memmott said.

They had intercourse for 45 minutes before the woman said she was cold and
got into bed with her boyfriend, Memmott said. Memmott called the sexual
interlude: "The most risky and reckless event of my life, to date."

It has had wide repercussions. Memmott was charged with rape, his wife
divorced him and the victim's boyfriend committed suicide.

The boyfriend had given a statement to police, largely corroborating the
victim's story, but the statement was inadmissible in court.

Prosecutor James Cope said Memmott -- who is 19 years older than the victim
- -- saw his chance to "make it" with an attractive young woman whose
boyfriend was "in bed zonked."

But defense attorney Vernice Ah Ching claimed it was a case of "buyer's
remorse." Ah Ching argued: "She had intercourse with David Memmott --
whether her thinking was affected by GHB or not -- and afterward decided it
was a mistake."