Giannini defense: Sex at Eads mansion was consensual

April 18--Shelby County businessman Mark Giannini faces a jury this week on aggravated rape charges. Commercial Appeal justice reporter Katie Fretland will be live blogging from the trial.

12:55 p.m.: Prosecutor Carrie Shelton is asking the victim about her background. The victim is a 28-year-old mother of four. She testifies their father was abusive and that he's in prison. She has a prior felony conviction in 2011.

"I was living in Mexico," she testified. "The father of my kids was deported and we had nowhere to go, so we went there so the kids could have a father."

She was transporting drugs, she said.

12:47 p.m.: The jury is back in the trial of Mark Giannini and the victim has been called to the witness stand.

12:30 p.m.: The jury's lunch is here. The trial will be in recess until 1:45 p.m. Testimony by the victim is planned for this afternoon.

12:00 p.m.: The prosecutors' first witness is a Memphis firefighter/paramedic, Jim Butler. Butler responded to the victim to stabilize her blood pressure enough to get her to a hospital. When he came to the scene at the Motel 6, she wasn't walking or talking. He administered an IV and Narcan. The Narcan, which is a treatment for opioid overdose, didn't have an effect. The Motel 6 is located at Sycamore View and Shelby Oaks Drive.

11:45 a.m.: Defense attorney William Massey addresses the jury, saying the victim came to Memphis with "a lot of problems" and "unfortunately, Mark Giannini landed right in the middle of it."

He describes Giannini as what people would consider a "well to do" man, who had money from starting and selling his business. (Giannini was an owner of an IT company.)

He was also single.

"Being a single man, he enjoyed women," Massey said, before showing an aerial photo of Giannini's mansion located on a large property with a pool.

The victim had a drug felony from Corpus Christi, Texas and was on supervised release, Massey said. She was single mother with "no real job skills" and four children, he said. She was living motel to motel and working part time at Waffle House, Massey said. At the time, she lived at Motel 6.

Needing more money, the woman met a man named "JJ" and he told her about Mark Giannini, and she was informed an arrangement "would involve sex," Massey said.

Once at Giannini's house in the 11000 block of Old Meadow in Eads, the woman and Giannini went on a tour of the house and property. At the pool, Giannini kissed her and he told her to go brush her teeth, Massey said.

Showing a photo of the pool to the jury, Massey said Giannini sat by the pool naked. The woman came back and they had sex in the pool, Massey said. Then, in the pool house, they had a type of cream vodka. They then went in the second floor on the house, had sex and came back down laughing and went back to the pool, Massey said. "(She) kept going back and forth to the pool house," and eventually she became incoherent and "wobbly," Massey said. She passed out in a lawn chair, he said.

A woman Giannini knew came to help and they put her in the front seat of the friend's car. Giannini put a towel in the car in case she got sick and the friend helped her out of the car to the second floor of room 239 at Motel 6.

As part of Massey's argument that the victim wanted money, he says the victim is suing Giannini in Circuit Court seeking $6 million.

11:15 a.m.: The court is in a recess. About 30 people are in the audience now, including several family members and friends of Giannini, victims advocates and lawyers.

10:55 a.m.: Assistant District Attorney Carrie Bush is giving her opening statement.

"(The victim) was raped," Bush said.

Bush explained the elements of aggravated rape: unlawful sexual penetration that was intentional, knowing and reckless, and that the victim suffered bodily injury.

The victim is a mother of four, Bush said. She was "far from perfect" and had been in trouble before, but was working to become a productive citizen, Bush said.

"In doing so she had the horrendously bad luck to come in to contact with Mark Giannini," Bush said.

The victim will testify and tell what happened to her that day, Bush said.

10:47 a.m.: Attorney Steve Farese stands and says that Giannini pleads not guilty on all counts.

10:44 a.m. : Judge Mark Ward swore in the jury, and Assistant District Attorney Carrie Bush is reading aloud the indictment of three counts of aggravated rape. Grand jurors charged that Giannini raped the victim and caused bodily injury.

10:30 a.m.: Giannini is seated in the courtroom in a dark suit, glasses and yellow tie, and several lawyers and victims advocates are present in the audience.

9:45 a.m.: Jurors were arriving Tuesday morning for the trial of Giannini who is charged with raping a woman in 2014 after picking her up in a silver Jaguar and taking her to his house on what was supposed to be a job interview.

Giannini, 51, is charged with raping three women beginning in 2002. He has pleaded not guilty on all counts, and the first of his trials is set for this week. The charges in the trial this week are three counts of aggravated rape against one woman. A jury was selected Monday and opening statements are scheduled to begin Tuesday.

The wealthy businessman was an owner of the information technology firm Service Assurance. He also served on the boards of the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Memphis, Memphis Botanic Garden and the Greater Memphis Chamber of Commerce.

He was indicted in January 2016 on charges of bribery and coercion of a witness.

His $3 million bond was revoked in May 2016 in connection with those charges.

Giannini is being prosecuted this week by Jessica Banti, Carrie Bush and Neal Oldham of the Shelby County District Attorney General's Office.

His defense attorneys are Whit Cooper and Steve Farese, of the Farese, Farese & Farese firm, and Chelsea Harris and William Massey, of Massey, McClusky, McClusky & Fuchs.

The jury consists of 11 women and three men.

The trial is scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m. in the court of Shelby County Criminal Court Judge Mark Ward at the Shelby County Criminal Justice Center.

Reach reporter Katie Fretland at kfretland@gannett.com or on Twitter: @katiefretland

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