Judge reduces charges against alleged rapist
Lawyer claims alleged victim's case is full of holes

By Leslie Wood
Staff Writer

GALLUP — Magistrate Court Judge John Carey downgraded three criminal sexual penetration charges pending against alleged rapist Barry Borst on Friday from second- to third-degree felonies and bound them, along with the two remaining charges, to district court for trial.

Friday's hearing was the final in a series of preliminary hearings concerning three separate criminal cases pending against Borst. During the two-hour hearing, a 20-year-old Gallup woman described an allegedly unwelcomed sexual encounter with 34-year-old Borst inside his trailer in the 1500 block of West Aztec on Oct. 17.

The pair reportedly met months before the incident, routinely met at his home and had consensual sex while the woman was involved with another man.

Borst reportedly purchased toy weapons and told the woman he was going to teach her to defend herself inside his bedroom located at the rear of the trailer. Once inside the room, Borst allegedly turned up the volume of his radio, closed the bedroom door and locked it behind the woman.

He reportedly then asked the woman what she would do in a situation where she was forced to defend herself. When she leaned toward Borst, he allegedly grabbed her hand and handcuffed her hands tightly behind her back.

A struggle and alleged sexual assault ensued, despite her both verbal and physical resistance. He also reportedly spat on her when she tried to remove the handcuffs.

"I told him I didn't want to play games anymore," the woman said of the incident.

Borst's attorney David Pederson questioned the credibility of the woman who said she traveled to Grants, a day prior to the alleged sexual assault, to pick up drugs from a dealer at Wal-Mart for Borst.

In testimony, she also said she took methamphedamine with Borst on five or six occasions throughout their relationship and said she was able to slip one hand from the handcuffs following the assault.

He also questioned how the other occupants, including four children, inside Borst's trailer did not hear the struggle. " ... (The woman's) story has more holes in it than a 20-pound block of Swiss cheese," Pederson said in closing. "She was candid enough to admit her boyfriend was a jealous person and what bothered her was that she got a hickey that her boyfriend would have viewed as evidence of her unfaithfulness."

Pederson urged Judge Carey to downgrade the originally third-degree felony charges pending against Borst to second-degree charges because the state failed to prove any personal injury sustained by the woman, which is a prerequisite for second-degree classification.

— Contact reporter Leslie Wood at (505) 870-1745 or (505) 863-6811 ext. 222.