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HOLLIDAYSBURG -- A Blair County jury acquitted a city man of rape and related charges Thursday afternoon following a three-day trial in the case in which he was accused of raping a woman near an off-campus party in February 2024.
The jury of seven men and five women deliberated about an hour and 45 minutes before returning not guilty verdicts for the charges against David Jeffrey Brunner, 25. Brunner had been facing two felony counts of sexual assault and single felony counts of rape and involuntary deviate sexual intercourse.
Before the jury entered the courtroom, Judge Paula M. Aigner, who presided over the trial, warned those gathered to show no reaction when the verdict was read. Once the jury was dismissed, the case's alleged victim left in tears.
Brunner and his family were also wiping away tears as they spoke with each other and Brunner's defense attorney.
While Brunner has been incarcerated at the Blair County Prison since March 27 after his $50,000 unsecured bail was revoked due to a separate, unrelated case being filed against him, he is now free, Chief Public Defender Julia Burke said.
The trial saw both the alleged victim and Brunner take the stand, with Brunner telling the jury that hearing the allegations made against him was "shocking." He said protection from abuse and no-contact orders had prevented him from talking to anyone about the case, leaving him "defenseless."
"I was in a defenseless position," Brunner told the jury. "With these accusations that were being made, I had absolutely no way of defending myself and say 'hey, no, that didn't happen.'"
The verdicts close out a yearslong case that stem from the events of Feb. 18, 2024, when the alleged victim reported a sexual assault to Penn State Altoona campus police.
The affidavit of probable cause stated Brunner and the alleged victim were attending an off-campus party when the alleged victim got into an argument with another individual.
Brunner testified that he had followed the alleged victim outside when she left the party because he had parked her in. When he saw she was upset from the argument, he offered to take her on a car ride to talk.
When Brunner pulled into a nearby parking lot, he and the alleged victim engaged in sexual activity, with the alleged victim telling police that Brunner was "very aggressive with everything he did."
In an interview with police March 3, 2024, Brunner said what happened "was consensual."
In a separate, unrelated case, Brunner faces a single misdemeanor count of simple assault and a summary count of harassment filed Jan. 21. Bail in that case was set at $75,000 cash on Jan. 21 and posted by Surety Bonds on Feb. 12.
Mirror Staff Writer Rachel Foor-Musselman is at 814-946-7458.