SAN DIEGO (CNS) - Jury selection is expected to begin Tuesday in the trial of a Yuma police officer accused of raping a 23-year-old woman while off-duty during a visit to San Diego last year.
Jared Elkins, 34, faces nine felony charges, including forcible rape. He was arrested after police responded to an emergency call in the 4700 block of Marlborough Drive in Kensington at 4:23 a.m. on Sept. 15, 2017.
Elkins, who is related to the alleged victim by marriage, was staying at her home when the incident occurred.
Elkins, the alleged victim, and two other family members went to dinner then watched a movie while drinking beer and wine at the home before the alleged assault occurred, according to prior court testimony.
The alleged victim testified during a preliminary hearing in April that Elkins physically forced her to participate in sex acts despite her pleas for him to stop.
The two other family members were asleep in the house so small "you can hear someone breathing in the next room," the woman testified.
During the alleged assault, the woman said she asked Elkins what would happen if she cried out for help.
"He said, ‘I would kill you,"' the woman testified.
After the incident, the woman said she found another family member in the house and they called police.
At a hospital, the alleged victim's blood-alcohol level was determined to be .09 percent, according to witness testimony.
Besides forcible rape, Elkins is charged with rape of an intoxicated person, forcible digital penetration, two counts each of forcible oral copulation and oral copulation of an intoxicated person, forcible sexual penetration and sexual penetration of an intoxicated person.
Elkins -- a seven-year veteran of the Yuma Police Department who later resigned -- faces 14 years in prison if convicted, according to Deputy District Attorney Lisa Fox.
