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Tiger Transit trial begins second day of testimony

The second day of testimony began Thursday morning in the trial of the former Tiger Transit driver charged with rape and sodomy of an 18-year-old Auburn student

Defendant Tony Patillo, left, speaks with his attorney, Jon Taylor, right, on Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019, during the second day of the Tiger Transit rape trial at the Lee County Justice Center in Opelika.
Defendant Tony Patillo, left, speaks with his attorney, Jon Taylor, right, on Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019, during the second day of the Tiger Transit rape trial at the Lee County Justice Center in Opelika.

UPDATE 7 p.m.


Officer Derek Johns, a patrol officer with the Auburn Police Division, testified following the lunch break in the trial of the former Tiger Transit driver, Tony Martin Patillo, charged with rape and sodomy of an 18-year-old Auburn student. 

Johns was one of the first responding officers to the complaint of a man standing over a woman possibly with his pants down. He testified that he came upon the scene after two officers, including Detective Corporal Greg Kloepper from testimony that morning, were already there and talking with Patillo. 

The officer was also wearing a body camera, and footage from it was shown to the jurors. Audio was available to the media, which went along with John’s testimony. 

After the footage was shown, Patillo’s attorney J. Carlton Taylor asked Johns if Patillo, who Johns testified had cried during their interaction, could have been upset because he was afraid he would lose his job after a Tiger Transit bus drove by and saw Patillo talking with police. 

Johns said it was possible. 

Lee County District Attorney Brandon Hughes had one remaining question for Johns, could Patillo have been upset because he thought he could lose his job because he raped a girl. 

Johns said yes. 

Patillo and Johns talked about why Patillo was at the bus stop near Aspen Heights and the possibility of cameras recording Johns that night. When Johns said when he brought up the cameras, Patillo seemed “antsy,” but Patillo informed Johns he was just tired, Johns testified. 

Johns testified that he explained to Patillo that the officers would look at any camera footage available, such as from the bus or a nearby apartment complex, to determine the events of the evening and if they went along with the details Patillo had described. 

Johns testified that he informed Patillo that if he wanted to say anything about what happened, it was best to do so before the officers looked at the footage. 

Johns then explained to Patillo he would need to come to the police station as the officers sorted out the situation and located the woman the witnesses had reported was on the Tiger Transit bus and was spotted near Aspen Heights, according to the audio played for the jury along with the video.

Hughes then called his next whiteness, Detective Josh Mixon from the Auburn Police Division, to pick up the narrative from that night. He was the detective on call that night and was called in to interview Patillo about the events leading up him getting off of a Tiger Transit bus at a bus stop near Aspen Heights. 

Mixon's testimony was backed by video footage and an audio recording from his interviews with Patillo that night, which was shown to the jury. The audio recording was available to members of the media and gallery. 

Throughout Mixon's interview with Patillo, he asked several questions to which Patillo would continually respond that Mixon had the video footage so he should tell Patillo what happened. 

The audio went on this way for several minutes with Mixon rephrasing his question of “what happened” and Patillo responding in the same way until Patillo said he had thought about having intercourse with the woman, but he knew it was wrong so he did not, according to the audio played for the jury along with the video. 

Throughout the audio recording, Mixon’s voice grew louder until he was yelling at Pattillo, who then yelled back. 

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Patillo’s attorney, Taylor, questioned Mixon before he left the stand, asking Mixon if he felt remorse for acting that way, and if it was an interview technique he was taught to yell at the interview subject. Mixon replied no to both questions. 

Kelly Alexander, an emergency room nurse at East Alabama Medical Center, testified next as a witness for the prosecution. Alexander collected a rape kit on the victim the following morning on Sept. 16, 2017, which was presented as evidence for the case. 

Alexander testified that the victim appeared nervous and was told by police to have a rape kit performed. 

By the time the victim arrived at EAMC, she had showered and changed clothes. Alexander testified showering and changing clothes washes away most of the evidence a rape kit would recover. 

Detective Chelsea Williams with the Auburn Police Division was the last whiteness to take the stand and complete their testimony Thursday afternoon. She testified that she took the victim to have the SANE exam. 

Williams also spoke with the victim prior to the SANE exam at the police station. She testified that the victim was confused as to why she was at the police station. Then, they watched the video footage from the bus, which was also shown to the jury during the trial Thursday morning, together. 

Williams opened the evidence bags which contained the victim’s clothing from the previous night, a shirt and shorts, on the stand. 

Auburn Detective Will Turner took the stand next and briefly began his testimony before court recessed for the evening. 

Friday’s testimony is expected to begin with Turner. 



UPDATE 12:30 p.m. 

The second day of testimony began Thursday morning in the trial of the former Tiger Transit driver charged with rape and sodomy of an 18-year-old Auburn student. 

Tony Martin Patillo, 53, is being tried on felony counts of first-degree rape and first-degree sodomy. He also faces one count of public lewdness. 

He is accused of raping an 18-year-old Auburn University student on a Tiger Transit bus in fall 2017. During opening arguments, his attorneys said the sexual contact was consensual. 

Day two of the trial began with a video from the Tiger Transit bus. The video and its audio were not shown to those in the gallery or members of the media. 

District Attorney Brandon Hughes from the prosecution began Thursday by questioning Detective Corporal Greg Kloepper with the Auburn Police Division, one of the first officers to respond to the 911 call of suspicious activity near Aspen Heights.

He testified he was responding to a complaint of a female on the ground with a male standing over her, possibly with his pants down. When he came upon the scene, he saw a man between a pole and a fence, which he said he thought was unusual. Though there was a sidewalk nearby, pedestrians were not usually found in that area. 

He then turned on his body camera as he approached the suspect, Kloepper said. He had the suspect identify himself, and then he read him his Miranda rights. The suspect identified himself as Patillo, and the officer began to question him. 

Kloepper testified Patillo said he had not seen any women, but then his story changed to he had seen one women that appeared intoxicated. He greeted her. 

Patillo’s story changed a third time to say that he had gotten off of a Tiger Transit bus at a stop near Aspen Heights and helped a women who had fallen once he got off the bus. She then walked toward Aspen Heights, Kloepper testified, recalling his conversation with Patillo.

The prosecution then asked for the body camera footage to be admitted into evidence. After a short break, the body camera footage was shown to jurors. Audio from the video was available to members of the media. 

The video followed Kloepper’s narrative beginning with reading Patillo his Miranda rights. The prosecution ended the video after Kloepper asked Patillo if he had sex with or had touched the woman he had helped up after she had fallen.

Patillo responded that he had not had sex with or touched the woman in her private parts. 

During the video, Kloepper could be heard talking to a supervisor, which was explained after the video ended.

Auburn police detective Chelsea Williams holds up evidence, a pair of shorts belonging to the victim, on Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019, during the second day of the Tiger Transit rape trial at the Lee County Justice Center in Opelika.


“I’ve got a really bad feeling about this one, serg,” Kloepper said in the video. 

Kloepper also referred to several police codes in the video.

The prosecution asked for clarification about the codes. In his testimony following the video, Kloepper said he was saying in the video that he was suspicious, which was denoted in the use of a code, and that there was a possible rape, also denoted through the use of a code. 

He testified that his interaction with Patillo near Aspen Heights lasted about an hour before Patillo was transported in the back of a police car to the Auburn police station for further questioning. At that time, Patillo was not placed under arrest. 

The defense questioned Kloepper, asking him to clarify the timeline of the events from the video, which Kloepper noted was approximately one hour behind the actual time. 

Kloepper was also asked if there was any evidence he had before questioning Patillo to which Kloepper responded that his evidence was the complaint. 

The trial will resume with testimony this afternoon after a lunch break.

The trial is expected to wrap up this week.


Elizabeth Hurley | Community Editor

Elizabeth, senior in journalism and political science, is the community editor for The Plainsman

@lizhurley37

community@theplainsman.com


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