COLFAX, Wash. – A jury is deliberating in the case of former Pullman Police Sergeant Dan Hargraves, who is accused of sexual assault.
The deliberation began Wednesday, September 18, following closing arguments from both the prosecution and the defense.
Last fall, Hargraves was arrested after an 18-year-old Washington State University student reported she’d been sexually assaulted. Hargraves later resigned from his position amid an investigation.
The trial, which began with opening statements on September 10, included claims from the prosecution that Hargraves had not been wearing a body camera at the time of the incident and failed other protocols.
The WSU student also took to the stand during the trial, saying the biggest reason she agreed to testify was to fight for any other woman this could have happened to. She described to the jury the details she remembered from that night, including how the grass felt on her knees and the sound of Hargraves unbuckling his pants.
“She thankfully doesn’t remember,” the prosecutor said. Gaps in the student’s memory included the alleged sex act, however, she knew Hargraves raped her, according to the prosecution.
The defense claimed throughout the trial that the student had been too intoxicated to remember the details about the night in question. They asked the jury to follow the law and not find Hargraves guilty unless, “without a reasonable doubt,” there is enough evidence, which they claimed there wasn’t.
