photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

Thomas J. Cormier is pictured during his rape trial on June 28, 2023, in Douglas County District Court.

The case of a man accused of raping a woman in his Lawrence apartment in 2021 is now in the hands of a Douglas County jury.

Jurors began deliberating Thursday in the case of Thomas J. Cormier, 22, of Maple Grove, Minnesota, who has been charged with one count of rape based on an incident that allegedly occurred in October 2021, when a woman, now 22, says he escalated a situation that began consensually into a nonconsensual ordeal that was fraught with pain and fear. The woman testified on Tuesday in Douglas County District Court that Cormier touched her so roughly that she bled profusely and that at one point he restrained her hands with a belt and refused to stop when she asked him to, as the Journal-World reported.

Cormier, a former University of Kansas student who has since moved to Minnesota, took the stand Wednesday in his own defense and testified that he believed the whole encounter, from beginning to end, was consensual.

He said that he did not see any signs that the woman was afraid or uncomfortable when they were engaging in sexual activity despite her excusing herself multiple times because she was bleeding.

Cormier said that the woman’s story was partially correct — that they had only met recently, that they liked each other and decided to meet up, then started to get intimate after chatting for about an hour. What Cormier disagreed with was that the woman was afraid, was forced to stay in his bedroom or that he bound her against her will.

Lawrence Police Detective Evan Curtis testified on Wednesday that he interviewed the woman two days after the incident occurred and collected digital information from Cormier’s phone.

Curtis said Cormier and the woman had exchanged dozens of messages over Snapchat the week of the incident. Some of those messages from Cormier to the woman were sent after he found out that the woman was going to the hospital and believed she had been raped.

Those messages were apologies from Cormier that said he didn’t understand why she felt the way she did and that he thought she had left happy, Curtis said. Cormier said in the messages that he checked with her multiple times to see if she was OK and that she never told him she was uncomfortable.

Jurors on Tuesday heard from the nurse who conducted the woman’s sexual assault exam. That nurse said she found lacerations on the woman’s genitals, some of which were actively bleeding and bruises on the woman’s neck that were consistent with choking, as the Journal-World reported.

On Wednesday, a sexual assault nurse expert disputed those findings in the sexual assault exam and told the court that if the woman had been injured the way the report said she had been, the woman would have needed immediate medical intervention.

Cormier was represented by defense attorneys Christopher Joseph and Dionne Scherff. The state was represented by Deputy District Attorney Joshua Seiden and Assistant District Attorney Samantha Foster.

The jury will resume deliberations on Friday morning. Cormier is currently free on a $75,000 bond.

photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

Thomas J. Cormier, left, is pictured at his rape trial on June 28, 2023, in Douglas County District Court. His attorneys are Dionne Scherff, center, and Christopher Joseph, right.