Doug Young Guilty Of Kidnap, Rape Charges

BLOUNTVILLE, Tenn. – The trial of a man accused of raping and kidnapping his estranged wife came down to a question of whom to believe.

Did jurors believe the defendant, Doug Young, who testified that breaking in to his ex-wife’s apartment in search of construction tools led to the two of them taking a drive that turned into a weeklong holiday of sex and reconciliation?

Or did they believe Moore’s testimony that Young beat her, raped her repeatedly and abducted her at gunpoint, tying her to him at night to prevent her from escaping, and keeping a gun trained on her when they went out in public?

The six man, six woman jury reached its conclusion late Wednesday after deliberating for an hour and 15 minutes: Young, 48, is guilty of aggravated burglary, aggravated assault, especially aggravated kidnapping and all four counts of aggravated rape.

“I hope we’re getting close to the end of this ordeal for the victim,” Barry Staubus, the lead Sullivan County prosecutor, said after the verdict was read. “Though she’ll never forget everything that happened to her, at least he will be punished for the rest of his life, and she’ll have the assurance of knowing she won’t be in danger.”

The penalties for convictions of aggravated rape and aggravated kidnapping range from 15- to 25-year sentences, while aggravated assault and aggravated burglary carry sentences of three to six years. Jurors also fined Young a total of $153,100.

The verdict will tack on time to the 22-year sentence Young began serving in October for a separate conviction of aggravated rape, also of Moore, which is currently on appeal.

Brad Sproles, Young’s defense attorney in his latest trial, did not immediately return a request for comment Wednesday.

In making their decision, jurors had to weigh the credibility of Young and of Moore, who offered starkly conflicting testimony.

In Young’s version, the week between Jan. 4 and Jan. 11 developed organically and randomly, with he and Moore mutually charting a course to no place in particular.

“It seemed like as things were going on, things were just happening,” Young testified Wednesday. “There was no set thing we were going to do.”

In the prosecution’s view, Young subjected Moore to “unspeakable” horrors.
“He raped her every way a man can rape a woman,” Assistant District Attorney Teresa Nelson said in her closing statement.
Between the conflicting versions was a third narrative – the evidentiary chain – to which both victims and defendants laid claim.

There was the tangled marital history of Moore and Young, which spanned 10 years and included several break-ups and reconciliations; the turning point of Dec. 1, 2007, when Young assaulted and raped Moore at her home, and was ultimately convicted by a jury; and the court order spawned by the Dec. 1 incident, barring Young from any contact with Moore.

Then there was the physical and forensic evidence from the week of Jan. 4-11: the purse, cell phone and Epi-pen for allergies that Moore left behind; the mess left by her two dogs and two cats during the day no one knew she was gone; the flecks of her blood on the wall, the bedspread and a hand towel, and Young’s sperm on the bedspread and hand towel.

There were the surveillance videos of Moore wearing dark shades, accompanied by Young, with his hand in his right pocket; the photos of extensive bruising under Moore’s eyes; the gun in Young’s right-hand pocket that authorities found when he was arrested Jan. 11, 2008; and the statements Moore made to law enforcement, expressing “ecstatic” relief, they testified.

Young claimed that Moore was complicit in the violations of the no-contact order, that she would leave a light on in her Bristol, Tenn., residence to signal that she could meet, and that they physically met four times. He also claimed that Moore sent him text messages and an e-mail, none of which were introduced as evidence.

He claimed that Moore was startled to see him in her home on Jan. 4, that they scuffled over the gun her father had given her for protection, and that he inadvertently headbutted her near the bridge of the nose, provoking her injuries. He said he never threatened her life nor forced her to accompany him, and that he only once cinched a ratchet strap around her – and himself – as “protection” for when they slept at a North Carolina rest stop.

Prosecutors were incredulous.

“How do you protect yourself from an intruder by tying yourself to the inside of your car?,” lead prosecutor Barry Staubus asked jurors in his closing statement.

Staubus also took aim at Young’s claim that he casually pocketed the pistol he was arrested with that morning, and that Moore did not know of it.

Noting that law enforcement officials on the scene testified that Moore cried out that Young had a gun, Staubus asked sarcastically, “Was that just a tremendous episode of telepathy on her part?”

Sentencing for Young is set for Sept. 25.

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