Metro

HOLLIDAYSBURG — A forensic toxicologist told a Blair County jury on Tuesday that a woman’s blood test results collected during a sexual assault exam at UPMC Altoona showed her blood-alcohol level at .094% and a THC level of 0.54 nanograms per milliliter in connection with vaping marijuana.

But the witness, Jolene Bierly of NMS Labs, offered no conclusions as to how those levels might have impaired the woman who reported being raped in March 2023, when she woke up inside her Altoona apartment with a man on top of her naked body, engaging in sexual intercourse.

Altoona police subsequently arrested Robert J. German, 44, Altoona, who is on trial this week on felony charges of rape of an unconscious victim and sexual assault and a misdemeanor charge of indecent assault of an unconscious person.

While defense attorneys have described German’s intercourse with the woman as consensual, prosecutors have countered that the woman was unconscious and unable to consent.

The woman, who testified Monday, admitted to having no memory of events between being at the Kettle Inn Bar and Grill on the evening of March 18, 2023 — where she was introduced to German, who identified himself as Jamaica J — and waking up in bed a few hours later with German on top of her and unable to maintain consciousness.

Upon awakening a second time, she said she ordered the man to get out and summoned help from her parents, then went to UPMC Altoona, where a sexual assault nurse examiner collected evidence confirming German’s identity and his sexual act.

Bierly, who examined the woman’s blood drawn at UPMC Altoona, acknowledged to the jury that the consumption of drugs and alcohol can have a variety of effects on judgment, perception, speech, ability to walk and brain function. But Bierly said she couldn’t apply her knowledge to the woman whose blood she tested.

“I don’t know this individual’s tolerance,” Bierly said.

When Assistant District Attorney Nicholas Mays asked Bierly about the combined use of alcohol and marijuana, the forensic toxicologist acknowledged another risk.

“If someone is not tolerant, you could see additive effects on their memory,” she said.

Philadelphia-area forensic psychiatrist Barbara Ziv told the jury Tuesday that memory impairment — or blacking out — is common in sexual assault cases because they often involve alcohol or drug use.

“The more drunk you get, the more your memory is impaired,” Ziv said.

While Ziv testified as a blind expert — meaning she had no details about German’s criminal charges or the victim’s allegations — she spoke of sexual assault victims having “flashbulb memories” based on triggering events they recall from their experiences.

“If you wake up with someone on top of you, that would be traumatic enough to be recalled,” Ziv said.

President Judge Wade A. Kagarise, who is presiding over the trial, told the jury that he has advised the attorneys to wrap up witness testimony on Wednesday, so the case will be in the jury’s hands on Thursday.

Mirror Staff Writer Kay Stephens is at 814-946-7456.