Second Tennessee man convicted of raping wife

Doug Young was convicted yesterday of forcing his estranged wife, Heather Moore to perform oral sex on him December 1, 2007. Formally convicted of a single count of aggravated rape after 1 ½ hours of jury deliberation, he faces 15 to 25 years in a Tennessee prison. He will be on supervision for life, and will have to pay a fine of $22,500.

Moore stated that the guilty verdict against her husband was “fantastic” and that “the outcome makes the embarrassment worth it.” He was officially charged with aggravated kidnapping, aggravated burglary, and rape.

Moore testified on Monday, and during a preliminary hearing in January, that Young grabbed her after she refused to give him a hug, shoved her and caused her to fall. The injuries to her lip and beneath her tongue came from him working his thumb around in her mouth after she bit down on it, she has said.

In his testimony, Young said that Moore became upset over another woman he was seeing and a comment he made about her mother, and stormed off down the hall. As he reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder, Moore spun around and fell into a closet door, popping it out of the track, he said.

She bit his thumb, he testified, and then led him in to the master bedroom, out to the deck, and back to the bedroom. About five minutes later, Young told jurors, Moore initiated oral sex as he sat on the corner of the bed.

When asked by a prosecutor if he ejaculated, Young said, “I do not know.”

A forensic analysis introduced as evidence found Moore’s blood on her and Young’s clothing, and semen on a washcloth she used to stop the bleeding from her mouth. The analysis by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation also yielded DNA profiles that matched those of Young and Moore.

Young testified Tuesday, August 26 that the sexual encounter he had with his wife was consensual and that there divorced on good terms. He also testified that Moore, who was upset after the sexual encounter, bit his thumb. Assistant District Attorney general Teresa Nelson stated that “no woman would consent to oral sex while her month is still bleeding, her eye is still blacked, and she’s bruised all over her face and neck.”

Kennedy told the defendant’s mother and sister not to say anything to the media, an echo of his admonishment to the defendant not to talk about anything other than the December 1 incident he was placed on trial for.

Defense attorney William Kennedy, in his closing argument called the case a “he said, she said scenario – something lead prosecutor Barry Staubus echoed. “If they believed [Moore], they could convict Young.”

Circuit Court Judge Robert Montgomery ordered jurors to ignore the failure to appear charge Young received for leaving Tennessee and missing a January court date. That charge will be the subject of a fall trial. Sentencing is set for October 10.