A 46-year-old Panama City man was found guilty Thursday night of sexually battering a woman who said the defendant had sex with her while she was knocked out from a prescribed medication, State Attorney Larry Basford announced.
Ray Aaron Linder was found guilty Thursday evening after the jury deliberated for about two hours. Circuit Court Judge Dustin Stephenson set sentencing for March 3.
Prosecutor Ryan Phillips called three witnesses, including the victim, and presented evidence showing the defendant engaged in sexual intercourse with her while she was “knocked out” from Ambien that had just been prescribed to her.
“It is never permissible to initiate and engage in sexual intercourse with someone incapable of giving consent,” Phillips said. “The victim showed courage in reporting this, following through and testifying at trial and we are pleased with the jury’s verdict.”
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In addition to the testimony from the victim and the Panama City Police Department officers on the case, Phillips introduced pictures and a short video pulled from the defendant’s phone that appeared to show a partially undressed woman sprawled in bed, and a picture depicting intercourse.
The video had no sound, but the victim testified she had an alcoholic beverage earlier and took her Ambien before going to bed. She testified she did not give the defendant permission to have sex with her or to take pictures/video of it.
When the victim called police, she said she had confronted the defendant who admitted what happened and tried to show her pictures on his phone. Those were the pictures later found by police after they obtained a search warrant for the defendant’s phone.
Basford thanked the Panama City Police Department for its work on the case and the victim for her testimony.
For more information, contact Mike Cazalas at mike.cazalas@sa14.fl.gov, or call 850-381-7454.