Opinion ID: 1808114
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The Vancouver Trip

Text: On September 24, Rhodes and Speer flew from Omaha to Seattle, spent the night in Seattle, and drove a rental car to Vancouver. They rented a hotel room, spent two nights in Vancouver, and attended the world's fair. Speer testified that during the second night in Vancouver, Mr. Rhodes kept sliding in bed up next to me, and I'd move away from him. I didn't think anything about it as long as I could keep moving away from him. Then he slid up next to me and he put his arm around me. So I got up and I told him, I think the way I put it was I'm not like that, and if you don't stay away from me I'll kick your ass. And Mr. Rhodes said, But I thought you understood I loved you. Speer testified that he then slept on the couch or a chair in the hotel room. Rhodes vehemently denies this incident. Speer testified that during the Vancouver trip, he and Rhodes again discussed the alleged sexual assault of the minor child by Ricky Ross. The record contains Rhodes' letter of September 24, 1986, informing Speer that the criminal mischief charge had been dismissed. The letter is on Rhodes' business letterhead and states only that I have enclosed herewith, your formal notice that I have dismissed the above-referenced case. A nolle prosequi dated September 24, 1986, was enclosed with the letter. Rhodes testified that he gave the letter and nolle prosequi to Speer on September 24 when he picked Speer up at Speer's house to go to Vancouver. Speer testified that Rhodes delivered the documents to him in Vancouver, saying, I was saving this for a special occasion, but you might as well have this now. Speer stated that Rhodes then invited him on a trip to the Bahamas. Speer and Rhodes returned from Vancouver on September 29, 1986, via Omaha. Speer claims to have been surprised and upset at the prospect of spending the night in Omaha with Rhodes. Rhodes says that he and Speer planned the trip together and that Speer planned all along to spend the night in Omaha. Rhodes testified that on the way between Omaha and Broken Bow, Speer invited Rhodes to attend the Oklahoma-Nebraska football game. Rhodes accepted and invited Speer to go with him to a law enforcement seminar or investigator's school if Rhodes did not have a trial scheduled for the day of the seminar. The record contains a tape recording of Rhodes' subsequent telephone conversation with Speer after returning from Vancouver indicating that the Haumont jury trial was off and that Rhodes could go to the seminar. Rhodes recalled that he also discussed Ricky Ross' preliminary hearing with Speer during the drive from Omaha to Broken Bow and that Speer admitted sexual penetration with the victim in the Ross case.