By Josh Verges
jverges@argusleader .com
PARKER – One of Jerome Hunt’s former wrestling teammates testified Wednesday that Hunt inserted his finger into his rectum while another teammate held him down.
The alleged victim said it happened about 20 times before Parker High School wrestling practice, mostly before coaches arrived but sometimes when an assistant coach was present with his back turned.
He said Hunt threatened to “do it worse “if he told anyone.
“I was kicking and screaming, trying to get away, “the boy testified.
Because the trial is being held in juvenile court, Circuit Judge Steven Jensen requested that the identities of witnesses be withheld.
The boy who testified Wednesday also said he watched Hunt do the same to two other teammates during the same practice. In those instances, he said, the same teammate held the victims down while Hunt assaulted them.
The alleged victim is one of several students who left the school for Marion in December. He testified briefly that he left because school officials portrayed Hunt as a “good kid “in a court hearing and because he was sick of his classmates.
Hunt, a 17-year-old former Parker High School wrestler, is accused of rapes and attempted rape of his teammates during the 2005-06 season.
He has argued in court filings through Sioux Falls lawyer Mike Butler that his actions resulting in allegations of sexual penetration were legitimate wrestling moves known as “skinning “or a “butt drag.”
The former teammate testified that an assistant wrestling coach at Parker High taught the move to wrestlers weeks after the season began.
Testimony began Wednesday afternoon when prosecutors called a nationally recognized wrestling coach to the witness stand. He said a wrestling move known as a “butt drag “should not involve the fingers or rectum.
“That’s absolutely inappropriate and should never happen, “he said.
They also showed video of Hunt’s state championship wrestling match in 2006. For several seconds at the end of the first period, Hunt’s hand is pressing in the area of his opponent’s rectum.
The wrestling expert testified that Hunt should have been disqualified from the match for an illegal move, but the referees were not in position to call it.
Jensen will rule on the case without a jury. The trial is scheduled to resume this morning and lawyers expect it to continue into Monday.
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