photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

Reston K. Phillips, left, appears Wednesday, May 8, 2024, in Douglas County District Court during a hearing in his rape case. His attorney, Joe Huerter, is at right.

Just days before a trial was to begin in a 7-year-old rape case, the defendant has asked a Douglas County judge for more time to prepare his defense.

On Wednesday, Judge Amy Hanley — with considerable reluctance, it appeared — granted the request of defense attorney Joe Huerter, who is representing Reston K. Phillips, a man accused of raping a young woman while she slept on a couch at the home of a Lawrence acquaintance on May 14, 2017. Phillips was 22 at the time. He is now 30.

Hanley, who had rejected a recent request by the prosecutor for a brief continuance in the case, grilled Huerter about the last-minute attempt to delay, noting the seriousness of the charge — “This is a rape case” that has been going on a long time, she said, later adding, “It should have been done earlier.”

Huerter claimed that while preparing for trial he had become aware of the need for “certain expert testimony.” When pressed by Hanley, Huerter indicated that the expert he sought was a medical doctor, but he said he had not heard back from potential experts he had contacted.

photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

Reston K. Phillips appears Wednesday, May 8, 2024, in Douglas County District Court during a hearing in his rape case.

Deputy District Attorney Joshua Seiden, representing the prosecution, objected to the delay, noting that witnesses had made plans to travel next week from Alabama and Montana. Seiden told Hanley that the state had not yet incurred related out-of-pocket expenses.

Hanley expressed concern about a possible ineffective assistance of counsel claim by the defendant in the future should she deny the continuance, which she ultimately granted, while acknowledging that she was bothered by the consequent need to rearrange so many schedules just days before a scheduled trial.

The woman alleging rape went to the hospital and made a police report just hours after the incident occurred. According to an arrest affidavit in the case, she had been visiting a friend in Lawrence and was sleeping on the couch of an acquaintance after an evening out. She told police that she woke up to Phillips, who was also visiting friends in town, violating her. The woman said that she did not know Phillips prior to that weekend and that after the incident she told him “you raped me” and he said “I’m sorry,” according to the arrest affidavit. Other men at the house are cited in the affidavit telling police that Phillips was distraught after the incident, saying “I don’t know what happened, I just woke up [and] we were both naked. I’m going to jail. I want to kill myself.”

An arrest affidavit is a sworn document detailing the probable cause behind a person’s arrest. Allegations contained in affidavits have not been proved in court.

The alleged rape occurred seven years ago, in 2017. A warrant for Phillips’ arrest was issued in March 2018. It’s not clear where Phillips, of Topeka, was in the many years after the incident, but his social media accounts indicate that he had spent time in Germany and the Netherlands. He was finally arrested last September in Harris County, Texas. He has been free on a $30,000 bond since shortly after his arrest.

The case is now set for a status conference on June 12, when a new trial date could be scheduled. Huerter noted at Wednesday’s hearing, however, that Phillips, who has waived his speedy trial rights, would be willing to engage in mediation, which could resolve the case short of trial.