Cd'A rape trial ends: Not guilty

A Washington man who was accused of raping a woman seven years ago after a night of drinking in a once-popular Coeur d’Alene nightclub was found not guilty of rape Friday by a Coeur d’Alene jury.

The rape charge stems from an incident in which Alvynn D. Allen, now 44, is accused of having sex with a woman who had passed out in an apartment after a night of drinking at the former Torch Lounge.

Allen was arrested on a misdemeanor in October 2012 and held overnight in the Kootenai County jail. But formal charges were not filed until last February, when Allen was arrested on a warrant for two felonies, including rape and one count of battery.

The complaint was later amended to one count of rape.

Jason Johnson, Allen’s attorney, said there was little corroborating evidence to convict his client.

“This was a difficult case,” Johnson said. “We’re just glad the jury stuck to the elements and the (jury) instructions.”

The difficulty in part lay in the amount of time that had passed since the initial charge. Jurors were asked to base their decision on whether the alleged victim was too intoxicated to resist, but little evidence was provided regarding the woman’s level of intoxication.

Police said Allen met a woman he had earlier contacted on Craigslist at a downtown Coeur d’Alene bar where Allen, the woman and her friends drank until the bars closed. They returned to an apartment near the 600 block of Appleway Avenue around 3 a.m., where the party continued.

One of the women passed out in an upstairs bedroom but said she awoke to Alvynn allegedly pulling down her pants and underwear before having sex with her as she lay on her stomach on a bunk bed.

She told police she panicked and pretended to be asleep. She reported the incident to a friend who came to check on her later that morning. She said Allen was chased from the apartment, fled in a burgundy 2007 Avalanche, and police were notified.

In an interview with authorities, Allen denied having sex with the woman. He was arrested on the rape charge and later released. Allen wasn’t formally charged until this year, pleading not guilty to the two felonies in March.

The jury deliberated for fewer than two hours Friday in Kootenai County’s First District Court after hearing more than two days of testimony.

Police in a report said Allen was a registered sex offender in Washington stemming from a 2011 charge of child molestation. The charge, according to court records was dismissed. Johnson said his client is not, and has not been, a registered sex offender in Washington.

At the time of his arrest, there were no-contact orders between Allen and two separate females, according to a police report.