photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

Defendant Miquel Brown, left, is pictured with attorneys Gary West and Jessica Glendening on Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025, in Douglas County District Court.

A jury began deliberating late Wednesday morning in a sex-crimes trial and had not reached a verdict by 3:30 p.m.

Miquel Brown, 33, of Lawrence, stands accused of rape and aggravated criminal sodomy in an Oct. 27, 2024, incident involving an 18-year-old woman, who said he assaulted her on his living room couch, where she was spending the night after an evening out with the man and his girlfriend.

All testimony agreed that the encounter began with the man massaging the teen’s legs as he sat beside her, then progressed to sexual touching. The woman said intercourse occurred. Brown said it did not.

All testimony indicated that the teen never pulled away, never said no and never attempted to get off the couch. Testimony also indicated that the man did not threaten her or pressure her, and the state said it was not alleging that Brown had ever used “force.”

photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

Senior Assistant District Attorney Ricardo Leal addresses the jury in the Miquel Brown trial on Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025, in Douglas County District Court.

The state, represented by Senior Assistant District Attorney Ricardo Leal, argued that the teen did not consent to any sexual activity and had simply been overcome by “fear” of an older, much larger man — 360 pounds to her 123 — to the extent that she froze, unable to react, as he “used” her.

The defense, however, contended that “all the facts demonstrate consent” and that the fear she claimed to feel was not warranted by the circumstances. Among those circumstances was the fact that she had a good relationship with the man, whom she had known all her life and considered “a brother.” Why now would she suddenly become fearful and unable to talk to him? defense attorney Gary West wondered in his closing argument. Why wouldn’t she have said “thanks, but no thanks,” he said, as the massaging began and then gradually progressed?

photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

Defense attorney Gary West addresses the jury in the Miquel Brown case on Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025, in Douglas County District Court.

When asked at trial Tuesday what had made her so afraid that she couldn’t say no at any point, the teen told Leal: “The idea that he would hurt me.”

West seized on that statement, telling jurors that an “idea” in someone’s mind that is “never voiced” was insufficient to convict a person of rape.

“He never used his size against her,” West said. “… There must be something that causes the fear” apart from an internal “idea.”

“All the facts demonstrate consent,” West said, adding that, “Positive verbal affirmation is not required under the law. If it were, many people would be in trouble.”

“At some point in time a person is responsible for their own agency,” West said.

Leal countered that the teen was “terrified” and didn’t say yes or “participate” in the encounter. “She’s just there and he uses her.”

“Some people freeze when they’re afraid,” he told the jury. “She wanted to get through it.”

West told jurors that they might not like Brown and might feel uncomfortable with the way he behaved that night toward someone who had been like family to him but that he had done nothing illegal.

The defense also questioned the thoroughness of the police investigation, criticizing the evidence collection, and putting a forensic scientist on the stand who challenged the DNA evidence in the case.

The expert, Stephanie Beine, said the KBI report on DNA was not consistent with the teen’s claim that penetrative sex with ejaculation had occurred.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

Senior Assistant District Attorney Ricardo Leal points to defendant Miquel Brown during his closing argument on Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025, in Douglas County District Court. From left are attorney Gart West, Brown, attorney Jessica Glendening and Leal. Assistant DA Britt Welch is at right foreground.