WEBB RAPE COUNT IS OUT

June 11, 1993

WEBB RAPE COUNT IS OUT PROSECUTORS DROP 1 OF 2 CHARGES

One of two rape charges against former Boston Celtic Marcus L. Webb was dropped by prosecutors yesterday after his defense lawyer said that the victim had told a doctor she consented to have oral sex with Webb.

Attorney Howard Cooper, who represents Webb, said a Middlesex grand jury might not have indicted Webb on a charge that he orally raped his former girlfriend on March 4 if a prosecutor had shown grand jurors a report that the woman told a doctor she had consented to have oral sex with Webb.

Cooper said the woman told a physician that she consented to various sexual acts during a night of lovemaking in Webb's Waltham apartment, but that Webb forced her to have anal intercourse despite her objection.

Insisting that grand jurors were aware of the victim's full account of the alleged rape, Middlesex County First Assistant District Attorney Martin F. Murphy said, "We did not violate any of the rules concerning the presentation of evidence to the grand jury.

"We expect to prove at trial that the victim was anally raped, then forced to engage in oral intercourse against her will."

When asked why prosecutors dropped the oral rape charge, Murphy said, "We made a tactical decision to go ahead on the most important charge and not let the motion filed by the defense create a sideshow that would divert attention away from the most important issue in the case and possibly delay the July 20 trial date."

Assistant District Attorney David Meier, who is prosecuting the case, filed a notice with Superior Court Judge Robert A. Barton yesterday saying that "in the interests of judicial economy and in order to ensure a prompt and expeditious trial . . . the commonwealth will not prosecute" a second charge any farther.

Cooper said he has urged Barton to dismiss the remaining charge. A hearing is scheduled for Thursday.