HOMER, Alaska -- Jury selection started on Wednesday at the Homer Courthouse in the trial of Ralph K. Vos. The 24-year-old faces four counts of first-degree sexual assault and two counts of second-degree sexual assault relating to a July 10, 2012, incident in which he's alleged to have had unwanted sex with a woman, then 18, after a party at an apartment.
In charging documents, Homer Police alleged that Vos laid down to sleep next to the woman on a mattress. Another woman slept on the floor next to the alleged victim. Police charged that Vos had sex with the woman, even though she rolled away from him and pretended to be asleep.
The woman woke up her friend after Vos fell asleep and the two women left the room. They called another friend for advice, and that woman told the alleged victim to tell her parents, which she did. The parents took their daughter to South Peninsula Hospital and called police. A Sexual Assault Response Team nurse examined the woman at the hospital.
The sexual assault charges Vos faces relate to having sex without consent, having sexual contact without consent and having sex with an incapacitated person. Superior Court Judge Charles Huguelet is presiding.
Later in 2012, a Sept. 8 teen drinking party resulted in the arrests of Anthony Resetarits, 20, Joseph Resetarits, 18, and a 16-year-old minor for second degree sexual assault of a 17-year-old boy.
A month later, Gov. Sean Parnell visited Homer to discuss the incidents. "I'm really here as an outgrowth of why these dialogues are happening, because of what happened in this community," Parnell told the Mariner Theatre audience of 50-75 youth and adults.
"Whether it's Homer, Anchorage, Kipnuk, Kodiak or all around the state, we deal with these issues daily," said Parnell. "Every day we have an opportunity to not shove something under the rug, but to actually have a dialogue . . . and say that domestic violence and sexual assault are not who we are, that we believe in the value of human life, the value of other human beings and that we will stand for other Alaskans in their time of need."
This story first appeared in the Homer News. Contact Michael Armstrong at michael.armstrong@homernews.com.