A trial began Tuesday for a Carbon County resident charged with sexual assault including rape of a unconscious person.

James Robert Glaze, 35, of Jim Thorpe, Penn Forest Township, and of Macungie, was charged by state police at Lehighton for an incident that occurred Dec. 31, 2017, and early Jan. 1, 2018, at his then Penn Forest Township home.

The victim testified that she attended a New Year’s Eve party at Glaze’s home at the request of her then “best friend,” Glaze’s girlfriend. She said it was the first time she was allowed to attend something like that outside of her home. She was 19 at the time and is now 22. She resides in Easton.

She said the girlfriend and Glaze picked her up in the afternoon of Dec. 31 and took her to his home, where she was going to stay overnight and attend the party.

She said at the party Glaze gave her alcohol in a cup and urged her to drink it. She said it was the first time she had ever consumed alcohol.

She said there were other people at the party but most of them left later, leaving her, Glaze, his girlfriend and at least one other man. She said the group was also smoking marijuana.

She said she slowly drank the first cup, and at the urging of Glaze was given a second cup. She said she didn’t drink all of it when she didn’t feel good and decided to lie down in a room she was previously told was where she would sleep.

She said she apparently passed out and added, “I was in and out the whole night.” She said at one point she woke up and found Glaze in the room taking his pants and underwear off. She said he had already removed her pants and underwear.

She said he then began to sexually assault her. She said, “I told him to stop. I didn’t want to do anything.”

She said he didn’t stop.

She said during the incident she was in and out of consciousness. She said she woke up the next morning and went looking for Glaze, because he had taken her cellphone. She texted her boyfriend to come and get her.

The boyfriend arrived some time later with his mother and stepfather. She said she told the boyfriend to pull the car over. She got out of the car with the boyfriend and then “whispered” to him that she thought she might have been raped. The boyfriend told his mother and they took her to St. Luke’s Anderson Campus.

Under cross-examination she admitted texting her boyfriend in the evening from the party and denied they were her arguing over her being at the party. She said she remembered having her clothes taken off but added, “I know I kept blacking out.”

She said she never told her girlfriend what happened. She also admitted waking up one time with Glaze next to her and talking about her boyfriend. She also said at one point while in the bedroom she heard Glaze and her boyfriend on the phone arguing.

Other witnesses

Trooper Nicolas A. De La Iglesia, of the Lehighton barracks, testified he was called by hospital staff concerning the accusation made by a patient that she had been sexually assaulted. He said he was informed a rape kit was done.

He said he arrived at the hospital late in the afternoon of Jan. 1 and first spoke with the SANE nurse, Audrey D’Alessandro, who did the rape kit and gave him the kit. He said he then spoke to the victim and had her write out a statement stating what had happened.

He said he later contacted Glaze and asked him to come to the barracks for an interview, which the defendant agreed to the next day.

The interview was recorded and played for the jury. In it Glaze denied giving the victim any alcohol and denied having any kind of sexual contact with the victim. He admitted she was at his home for a party, invited by his girlfriend.

The trooper also said he spoke to the girlfriend, who said Glaze did not give the victim any alcohol and did not know anything about any sexual assault.

De La Iglesia said Glaze agreed to give a DNA sample for testing.

He said the DNA sample was submitted with the rape kit for testing. The state police crime laboratory in Greensburg did the DNA testing. He said after he received a report from the lab that Glaze’s DNA was found in the victim, he filed the charges.

Under cross-examination he admitted he did not interview any of the other people at the party, did not go to the home immediately but did much later and also admitted never securing any cellphone records of the victim.

The boyfriend testified the victim called him early on Jan. 1 to come get her. He said he arrived at the Penn Forest Township home some time later and the victim was waiting outside.

While en route back to Easton, the victim asked them to stop the car because she wanted to tell him something. The car was stopped and the two exited the vehicle. He said that was when she told him, “I think I was raped.”

He admitted speaking to a man over the phone the night before and getting into an argument with him. He said the man answered the victim’s cellphone but never actually identified himself. He only assumed it was Glaze he was speaking with.

Nurse D’Alessandro testified, explaining how the rape kit was prepared and what she did in administering it, packaging it for transfer to the arresting officer.

Maiko Suzuki Ferro, a forensic scientist for the state police Wyoming lab, testified to her examination of the rape kit, the results and that she repackaged it to send it to the Greenburg lab where all DNA testing is done for the state police.

The trial was scheduled to resume at 9 a.m. today.

Assistant District Attorney Brian B. Gazo, who is prosecuting the case, is scheduled to call the person who did the actual DNA testing. He said it would be his final witness.

After that defense attorney, Eric Wiltrout, of the public defender’s office, will present his case.

Judge Steven R. Serfass is presiding.

Glaze is charged with four counts, rape of a unconscious person, a felony 1; involuntary deviate sexual intercourse of a unconscious person, felony 1; aggravated indecent assault, felony 2; and furnishing alcohol to a minor, a misdemeanor 3.