A 19-year-old Lawrence man was ordered Thursday to stand trial on accusations he raped his roommate’s underage sister.

The 15-year-old girl had gone to spend the night at her brother’s apartment on May 15. She testified the defendant came home in the middle of the night, woke her up and dared her to drink hard liquor shots in exchange for money.

After she drank four shots and vomited, she testified, he carried her back into his bed and had sex with her. Prosecutors said the girl was too intoxicated to give consent, which is classified as rape under Kansas law.

“At any time did you consent to have sexual intercourse with (the defendant?)” Assistant Dist. Atty. Eve Kemple asked.

“No,” the girl answered.

Defense attorney John Ambrosio repeatedly asked the girl if she knew it was wrong to drink with the man and accept money for shots – especially given that he had made sexual comments to her in the past. At one point, Ambrosio drew an admonishment from Judge Paula Martin when he said that “any woman worth her salt” would have known that she was leading the defendant on.

As the girl left the witness stand in tears, Ambrosio turned around and winked at the defendant’s family members.

Lawrence Police Detective Troy Squire testified the man first told police the girl had only two shots of alcohol but later admitted she had four. Squire said he asked the defendant if he thought the girl would have had sex with him had she been sober.

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“Probably not,” the suspect said, according to Squire.

In 2003, Ambrosio represented William N. Haney, one of three men involved in a statutory rape case that led to an unsuccessful effort to vote Martin off the bench.

Haney was convicted of rape for having sex with an intoxicated 13-year-old girl, which normally carries a minimum penalty of 13 years, but he received a reduced sentence from Martin based on factors including the claim that the girl was a “willing participant” in the night’s activities.

The Journal-World generally does not identify victims in sex crimes and does not identify suspects unless they have been convicted.