WARNING SEXUAL CONTENT!

BUCYRUS—The Rape and domestic violence trial of Jason Tupps, 47, of Galion began on Monday with a long day of jury selection. Testimony began following opening statements on Tuesday.

Tupps is charged with one count of rape, a felony of the first degree, and one count of domestic violence, a fourth-degree felony. If convicted, Tupps could face more than 16 years in prison.

From the time Tupps was indicted in 2021, special prosecutors pledged to play an actual recording of the attack captured on a cell phone.

The victim, who was married to Tupps when the alleged attack occurred, took the stand to tell the jury her story.

According to the former Mrs. Tupps, the marriage had been “crumbling” before the attack on August 28, 2021. She was considering a dissolution of the union. Trust within the marriage had been broken.

Tupps told the jury that her husband would drink so heavily that when they argued, he would have no recollection of his behavior the day after. It was for that reason Mrs. Tupps began recording the arguments.

On the night of the alleged rape, the couple had been arguing for hours about sex because they hadn’t had sex for about two months.

Jason had asked his wife for sex earlier in the day, and she told him it was a possibility. That possibility disappeared due to the arguing.

According to the victim, Tupps continued badgering her for sex to the point that she asked him to please stop.

When he did not relent, she went upstairs and got into bed by herself. She told the jury she wanted to be left alone and to go to sleep.

Tupps plugged her phone into the charger as is her routine. She did not realize it was still recording.

Prosecutors then played a portion of the tape where the alleged rape occurred.

Jason Tupps can be heard yelling at his wife, “You told me you’d **ck me. Why did you lie to me!”

She can be heard telling him he was hurting her and to stop. He told her: “It’s been two “^*cking months! I want sex!”

After she broke free, stopping the alleged rape, Tupps told her: “You’d better wipe off your legs. I’ll get you a ^*+king towel. Here you go.”

When the prosecutor asked her how she got Tupps off her, she told the jury she got her foot up into his forearm and pushed away the hand being used.

Tupps told the jury she was scared and wanted him to shut up and leave her alone.

The next day she discovered that she had recorded the incident.
Tupps told the jury she didn’t go to the police immediately because he was very controlling. He demanded to know everything she did. She was also ashamed and embarrassed.

According to the victim, the day after the alleged rape, Tupps started pressuring her again for sex. She was hurt and sore. She told the court that rather than deal with a possible repeat of the last assault, she agreed to give Tupps oral sex. When asked why she performed the act Tupps told the jury: “Jason is persistent. When he doesn’t get his way it escalates quickly.”

Tupps told the jury that was the last of any sexual activity between the two.

In a recording on September 4, when Tupps asked her what she thought his family would think about the way she treated him, she said:

“I told him, what would your family think if they knew you ripped my panties off and forced your fingers up inside of me?” Tupps fell silent for about ten seconds.

Finally, on September 9, Tupps pushed through her embarrassment and called the Crestline Police Department. She talked with a dispatcher and made arrangements to go to the station after she got off work from Crestline Hospital at around 2:30 am.

Police took her statement and wanted her to see a sexual assault nurse. Tupps told the jury she did not see the nurse because she worked at the hospital and didn’t want explicit details of her life to become gossip.

While she was making her police report, Tupps kept trying to contact his wife.

Upon the advice of the police not to return home, she told the jury she planned to sleep in her car.

Tupps kept texting. Eventually, he told her a pipe had burst in the house, and she needed to come home to protect her property.

When she arrived home, she found there was no burst pipe.

Her husband told her he had turned on all the faucets so he could run her water bill up. According to prosecutors, she began recording, and running water could be heard at the beginning of the tape.

Tupps allegedly followed his wife into the bathroom, demanding to know where she’d been. He then grabbed her bag and pushed her into the windowsill. That encounter resulted in a domestic violence misdemeanor charge in addition to first-degree rape.

Testimony continues when defense attorney James Mayer III cross-examines the victim.