Jury finds ex-OU student innocent of rape, kidnapping

After deliberating for about five and a half hours Friday, a jury in Athens County Common Pleas Court found 21-year-old Matthew Kulchar, a former Ohio University student, not guilty of rape or kidnapping in connection with an alleged sexual assault on a female student in September 2008.

The six-woman, six-man jury did find Kulchar guilty of complicity to evidence tampering, a third-degree felony.

On the stand, Kulchar had admitted that after he was arrested for the alleged rape, he sent a text message to his roommate from the OU Police station, telling him to dispose of a pair of boxer shorts Kulchar had been wearing when he was with the woman.

The trial, which lasted more than a week, included sharply contrasting stories from the two sides. The woman alleged that Kulchar had come to her Boyd Hall dormitory room and forcibly raped her repeatedly, despite her having told him to stop.

She also alleged that the rape injured her and caused serious bleeding, because it forced a tampon she was wearing up further into her body.

Kulchar admitted he had sex with the woman, but insisted it was entirely consensual, that the woman never asked him to stop or protested what was happening, and that he never saw any blood on her.

Judge Michael Ward ordered a pre-sentence investigation in the case, and ordered Kulchar be evaluated for the Septa Center, a prison alternative facility in Nelsonville.

Athens County Assistant Prosecutor Rob Driscoll asked that Ward increase Kulchar's bond to $250,000. It had been at $100,000, and had been posted to keep Kulchar out of jail.

Ward decided to keep the bond where it was, however.

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Doug

Why would he have his roommate dispose of his boxers if he is innocent? Does this make sense to anyone? Or is he really guilty and they just didn't have enough evidence for this jury to convict him?

random tom

I don't understand either about the shorts very strange. I was wondering there has to be a way to tell if the tampon deal was right. I would think any woman old enough for college would NOT consent to sex with a tampon in. Ofcourse we only know half the story. Wonder if the roomate trashed the shorts and is he in trouble for that? I can't for the life of me understand why any man would need to rape a woman this has to be able the most nasty thing to ever do to a human. I would hope that any woman being raped could go along with it long enough to get a hand full of nards and no holds bared rip t hem off not squeeze them rip them off. I have no place in my world for a rapest or child molester and think they should be treated with the most inhumain idea we as good people could think of actually a child molester really just needs to be put to death asap. I think if our courts would start getting as nasty as a rapest or molester then things might change but that would take ages. Pray for this woman cause there is no way no way she would say yes to sex and leave a tampon in and why would he not notice don't you think that might hurt him he has to be one sick pup i'd love to have 5 minutes with.

Eileen Lebowitz

I am totally confused ??? How can a person be guilty of tampering with evidence if he was found not guilty of the crime associated with the alleged evidence tampered with. According to accounts all the evidence that the prosecutor had was never tested, was thrown into a paper bag and all contaminated, so big deal you didn't have the evidence. I think this was a witch hunt to begin with. There should be charges brought against the woman for purgery and the city of athens should be sued for wasting taxpayers money. It's like you just needed to find him guilty of something. Shame on the prosecutor for putting a liar on the stand. No different then the Duke case and the recent case in Long Island where boys were falsely accused of rape. It happens more often then not.

She lied 37 times. There was not enough evidence to convict. Her own friends disputed what she said. There was other male dna found on her pants. There was 1 1/2 hours between her leaving her friend and seeing Mr. Kulchar, who's dna? She was only 12 feet from the exit. Always, remember there are women who cry rape for revenge. She wanted the case dropped in November. The DA said no. this was the State Vs. Kulchar, not her vs kulchar. I know if I was raped I wouldn't be texting my rapist asking how they are and saying sorry. Let's feel sorry for the woman who where really raped.

Here is another note. She claims there was blood all over her sheets. When the prosecutor pulled the sheets from the evidence bag, guess what No Blood, No Blood on the sheets or her anywhere and the police never tested anything. Mr. Kulchar has never been arrested for anything, a good student. Let the reporter report how many lies this woman told, lies that were proven. This case is extremely frustrating to me. She should be penalized in some way.

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Jury finds ex-OU student innocent of rape, kidnapping

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