photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

Reston Phillips, left, appears Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Douglas County District Court with his attorney, Joe Huerter.

A firm trial date has now been set for a man accused of raping a woman in Lawrence more than seven years ago — after the court and the state both expressed frustration with multiple delays sought by the defendant.

“I’m not moving these dates, so don’t ask,” Judge Amy Hanley told the parties on Thursday as she scheduled a May 2025 trial for Reston K. Phillips, whose defense attorney, Joe Huerter, has sought multiple delays for unspecified expert testing of his client.

“What kind of testing?” Hanley asked, but Huerter said he could not answer that question without disclosing his defense strategy.

Huerter indicated that an expert had been retained but that the expert could not do the testing until February of next year.

Four months ago — just days before the trial was originally set to begin — Huerter told the court that while he was preparing for trial he suddenly became aware of the need for expert medical testimony but was struggling to procure an expert. At a status conference later this summer he indicated that an expert had been found, but on Thursday he told the court that the expert could not actually do the unspecified testing until next winter.

“I can’t help but express some frustration,” Assistant District Attorney Samantha Foster told the court regarding the further delay.

Phillips was 22 at the time of the alleged rape. He is now 30, and has spent considerable time traveling in Europe.

The woman accusing him of rape went to the hospital and made a police report just hours after the incident occurred in 2017, as the Journal-World reported. 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.”

Allegations in arrest affidavits have not been proved in court.

A warrant for Phillips’ arrest was issued in March 2018, nearly a year after the incident. 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 the Netherlands, and his attorney also mentioned Germany. Phillips was finally arrested in September 2023 in Harris County, Texas. He has been free on a $30,000 bond since shortly after his arrest.

Hanley at the May hearing, though clearly unhappy with the requested delay just days before trial, expressed concern about a possible ineffective assistance of counsel claim by the defendant in the future should she deny the continuance. On Thursday she expressed ongoing frustration and insisted there would be no further delays.

“This case is going to trial,” she said.

photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

Reston Phillips appears Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Douglas County District Court.