SPOKANE, Wash. — A former Spokane police sergeant convicted of raping a coworker was denied a new trial on Thursday.
Gordon Ennis was found guilty of second degree rape back in March for the sexual assault of a coworker that occurred on Oct. 24, 2015.
Ennis will remain in jail until his sentencing in a week. Ennis' lawyer Mark Vovos told KREM 2 that he plans on filing with the court of appeals.
Documents said the victim described herself as "very intoxicated” at the party. She said she passed out in a guest bedroom and woke up to Ennis touching her inappropriately. She told detectives she tried to move away and heard Ennis say, "I gotta go, I gotta go home," in a panicked voice. Investigators said they later found the woman's DNA in Ennis's car on the gear shift and driver's side seat belt.
Earlier in May, Ennis received approval for a new lawyer, Mark Vovos. Court documents said Vovos requested a new trial on Ennis' behalf.
Judge Maryann Moreno was scheduled to make an oral decision on whether or not to grant Ennis a new trial on August 10, but she decided to postpone the decision a week. Judge Moreno said she knew how she was going to rule, but after hearing arguments she decided to think further about her decision. She explained Thursday, it was the conflict of interest argument, regarding Ennis and his former lawyer Mr. Cossey, that she wanted to make sure she fully understood.
"Mr. Cossey indicated that at no time was he ever told that this contact between them was consensual. And in fact Mr. Cossey believed that the opposite was true and that was not consensual and he firmly believe that's what Mr. Bugby told him," Moreno said.
Moreno went on to say because the defense was trying to prove sexual consent testimony from Strohsal would not be of any assistance to Ennis.
Ennis' request for a new trial is based on a conversation Ennis and his wife overheard between Officer Doug Strosahl, his attorney and Ennis's former attorney. A motion filed by Ennis says there's reason to believe Strosahl had consensual sex with the victim at the same party before the assault, and Ennis said his former attorney did not use that information in the trial.