She said he raped her. He said he didn’t know her. The jury split the decision

A Harrisburg man was acquitted on a felony count of rape but was found guilty of a felony count sexual assault after a two-day trial Tuesday at the Centre County Courthouse.

Anthony Holmes, 26, was charged in July 2016 stemming from a reported assault during Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts weekend July 2015.

A Harrisburg woman visiting the State College area had reported to police that she had been punched and sexually assaulted in an unknown place in State College by a man she didn’t know.

Police were later able to identify Holmes through phone records. DNA evidence discovered in a rape kit matched Holmes, police said.

Testimony Tuesday consisted largely of cross examination by Holmes’s attorney, Bryan Walk, into the State College police investigation into the incident. Walk repeatedly questioned why police had not attempted to pull video surveillance from key areas in the investigation, and also noted that investigators had not physically inspected some of these areas as well.

Specifically, Walk noted that in the woman’s report, she claimed to have climbed up a brick lattice around the rear of a friend’s apartment, entering through the balcony door. The woman reported she had been punched and knocked to the ground that evening, however Walk implied that the injuries could also have been sustained in a fall from the lattice.

The woman at the center of the case also testified Tuesday, saying she had been drinking that evening and had essentially been blacked out from around 12:30 a.m. till about 4:30 a.m. when the assault occurred. She testified when she came to she was standing outside a car in a wooded area and panicked.

When she told the man she wanted to leave, he punched her in the face and knocked her to the ground, she said.

Cross examination focused on calls the woman had made to Holmes at about 2 a.m., which she testified she could not account for. Prior testimony by one of the woman’s friends noted that she had claimed to be either at the Lion’s Den or at an apartment near the Lion’s Den at around that time.

Jurors also heard a recorded phone call arranged by the State College police between the woman and Holmes. In the call, Holmes denied being in State College during the Arts Fest weekend and denied knowing who the woman was.

Holmes did not testify in his own defense.

Jurors deliberated for about five hours Tuesday, returning the guilty verdict on a felony count of sexual assault, and not guilty verdicts on the count of rape and a count of simple assault.

He was additionally found guilty of a summary charge of harassment by President Judge Pamela Ruest, who presided over the trial.

District Attorney Bernie Cantorna requested a bail modification, advising that Holmes now faces a standard sentence of 36-59 months and could be considered a flight risk. At the time of trial, he was free on 10 percent of $100,000 bail.

Ruest agreed to modify bail, keeping it at $100,000 but saying Holmes could be released if $50,000 could be posted.

He was taken into custody on the new bail conditions and is being held at Centre County Correctional Facility. Sentencing is scheduled for April.

This story was originally published January 31, 2018 at 10:30 AM with the headline "She said he raped her. He said he didn’t know her. The jury split the decision."