UPDATE: James Johnson Jr. will not be tried this week. He is listed on the same docket, but will not be tried with Tony Patillo. His trial will be at a later date.
The first part of the case involving two former Tiger Transit drivers, Tony Patillo and James Johnson Jr., is headed to trial this week. The two are charged with first-degree rape and sodomy of an 18-year-old Auburn student in fall 2017.
Patillo is appearing in court Monday, and jury selection will get under way for his portion of the case. Opening arguments in the case will begin later this week once a jury is selected.
Patillo also faced four misdemeanor counts of public lewdness for reckless exposure. Three of those counts have been dropped.
Prosecutors and Auburn police say video evidence shows Patillo forcing the victim, who appeared to be incapacitated, to perform oral sex on him.
The Tiger Transit bus on which part of the alleged assault took place has four video cameras.
The video, according to testimony at a probable cause hearing in November 2017, shows Patillo guiding the victim from her seat on the front of the bus to the rear of the bus, where he allegedly assaulted her.
Prosecutors say Patillo later raped the victim in the back of the bus.
Police arrested Patillo and Johnson on Sept. 16, 2017, after the 18-year-old female transit passenger was found incapacitated over homecoming weekend after taking a Tiger Ten late-night bus home from downtown.
Witnesses spotted Patillo standing over the victim on the side of the road near Aspen Heights Lane and Dekalb Street. After making several drives by, and noticing his pants were down, the witnesses called police noting that "something didn't feel right," according to testimony at the 2017 probable cause hearing.
Patillo, according to previous court documents, submitted a rights-advised statement admitting to having his pants down but has denied having sex with the victim.
Johnson, who was identified as the driver of the Tiger Ten bus Patillo and the victim were riding on, is accused of being an accomplice in the crime. Prosecutors said in court documents that Johnson turned off the bus lights and gave Patillo a warning before he turned the lights back on as another passenger got on the bus.
After interviewing a Tiger Transit supervisor and reviewing video evidence from SkyBar Cafe, investigators determined that the victim was at SkyBar before two acquaintances put her on the bus and gave Johnson directions to take her home.
Police said in testimony that Johnson took her home, but she did not get off the bus during the first trip to her residence. She was sleeping and incapacitated, murmuring something unintelligible to Johnson before he drove back downtown to speak with a supervisor about what to do.
The Tiger Transit supervisor told Johnson to try taking her home again, and if she didn't get off, they would call law enforcement or an ambulance to help. But that's when Patillo allegedly got on the bus, and the second ride, which allegedly ended in the assault, began.
Johnson's attorney said in 2017 that Johnson, who was in his first few months on the job, was not aware of any sexual assault on the bus and was simply following directions from a senior bus driver.
Patillo and Johnson were employees of First Transit, the contractor that runs Tiger Transit and the Tiger Ten late-night bus service from downtown. Both were fired after being charged in the case.
The University announced on Sept. 23, 2017, that First Transit would be contracting a firm to place security personnel on each late-night bus.
In addition, all First Transit employees were required to go through the Green Dot Bystander Intervention program.
Green Dot aims to prevent sexual assault and violence by training bystanders about situations during which intervention is necessary.
Green Dot training is now required for all First Transit employees at Auburn.
A trained security employee monitors the real-time camera system on the late-night buses and reports any suspicious or dangerous activity to the Auburn Police Division.
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Chip Brownlee, senior in journalism and political science, is the editor-in-chief of The Auburn Plainsman.
