‘Disgusting, despicable act’: Jerry Sutt convicted in Collinsville rape case

Jerry Sutt was found guilty of raping a 15-year-old girl and tying up her brother after 50 minutes of deliberation by a Madison County jury.

The trial concluded with testimony of the teenage girl he allegedly raped, her brother he allegedly tied up, and a recording of a phone call in which he threatened to kill the entire family. The jury received the case at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, and returned its verdict in less than an hour.

Sutt, 53, was accused of entering his former girlfriend’s home in rural Collinsville on Sept. 18, 2013, tying up two teenagers and sexually assaulting the 15-year-old girl. He was convicted of two counts of aggravated unlawful restraint and two counts of aggravated sexual assault while possessing a weapon. He has been held in the Madison County Jail in lieu of $500,000 bail.

“This was a disgusting, despicable act by a terrible person, visited upon these young people — these children — that he should have been in a position to be taking care of,” said Tom Gibbons, Madison County State’s Attorney.

Sutt represented himself in his trial, having hired and fired multiple public defenders or private attorneys. Thus he cross-examined the witnesses against him personally.

The brother is now 19, and was 16 at the time that the incident occurred. He said that he and Sutt were friends, and he responded to a text from Sutt asking him to talk. He said Sutt wanted to come inside the house, and he didn’t know why. He said Sutt was carrying a bag.

“I turned around and he was dumping out the bag, with tie wire, a gun and rope,” the brother said. “I didn’t know if he was serious or this was a real situation.”

He said Sutt held the gun on him and ordered him to go into his sister’s room. He said Sutt tied up both of them, and took his sister into another room, leaving the brother hog-tied in his sister’s room with a pillowcase over his head.

The brother said Sutt told him, “Don’t move or I’ll have to kill somebody.”

He said he was left in that position for about three hours. At that point, his sister came back into the room and untied him. He said she was very upset, and he had a suspicion what had happened.

Sutt was still there, he said, holding the gun on them and threatening to kill them. The brother said he asked Sutt to leave, and eventually he did, taking with him all the items he had brought. Then his sister told him what Sutt had done to her, and the brother chased after Sutt, asking him, “How could you do that?”

He said Sutt told him, “Just go talk to (the sister).”

At that time, he said, he and his sister went upstairs to wake their mother and call the police.

He described his relationship with his mother’s boyfriend as close, and only thought he was coming to the house that night to talk.

On cross-examination, Sutt asked the boy if he and his sister were spoiled, if his sister was “a drama queen.” Prosecutor Kathleen Nolan objected to the questions, and Madison County Circuit Judge Kyle Napp sustained the objections.

Next to testify was the girl Sutt is accused of raping, who was 15 years old at the time. She testified that she was happy Sutt was no longer living with them, because he fought with her mother a lot and “caused a lot of issues” in the house. However, she said he had never hurt her until that night.

The girl began crying as she said she was getting ready for bed when her brother and Sutt came into the room. She said Sutt was holding a gun on them.

After tying up her brother and tying her hands, the girl said he took her into another room and sexually assaulted her multiple times with a pair of scissors to her throat, telling her she deserved everything happening to her. She said he struck her every time she cried.

Afterward, she said Sutt told her he intended to kill her mother. She attempted to talk him down, telling him that if he would let her untie her brother, they could talk about letting him move back into the house.

“One moment he was very sorry for his actions toward me, the next he was telling me to shoot him, the next he was very angry and going to go upstairs and shoot my mother and (little sister),” she said.

Eventually she said they talked Sutt into leaving.

As Sutt is representing himself, he cross-examined the girl himself. He asked if he offered her the gun, why didn’t she shoot him?

“Because I was 15 years old and I didn’t want to kill anybody,” she said, crying.

Later on Wednesday, forensic biologist Brian Hapack testified to his DNA analysis of the rape kit collected from the girl. He said semen was found in the samples collected, and DNA testing found that it belonged to Sutt. He also found Sutt’s DNA on a cup found in the basement and in semen traces found on the carpet.

The state also recalled Det. Brian Koberna back to the stand to authenticate the recording of a phone call between Sutt with a family member while he was incarcerated in 2013.

In the recording, Sutt is heard telling his relative that he intends to represent himself in the trial. “I went there to kill every (expletive),” he said.

Jail phone calls are subject to recording, and this particular phone call was previously presented as evidence to revoke Sutt’s bail. After playing the recording, the prosecution rested its case.

As he is still representing himself, Sutt took the stand Wednesday morning. He said that he only told his relative that he would go to the house and kill everyone there in order to get his attention. “That’s the explanation I can give at this time,” he said.

He said he went to the house that night because all of his things were there, and had a gun because he was staying in Madison and he felt safer that way.

He said while he was there, he thought the mother was stirring, and he anticipated trouble. “She’s being very vindictive,” he said. So he hid downstairs, he said, and his DNA was found because he pleasured himself on the girl’s clothes. He said then it must have transferred from the clothes to her body.

“This may sound sick, but I still very much hope to… put the family back together,” he said. “To label me or look at me as a sex predator is wrong.”

On cross-examination, Nolan walked Sutt through his version of events. “There’s an active order of protection against you, and you randomly chose to masturbate in the living room of that house?” she asked. He said it was embarrassing, but that was his testimony.

“Do you remember holding the scissors to her throat and telling her you’d been planning to do this for a long time?” Nolan asked.

“No,” he replied.

“Do you remember telling her you’d been planning to kill her for a long time?” she asked.

“No,” he replied.

She asked about his recorded threat to kill the whole family. “And that was just to get (the relative’s) attention?” Nolan asked. “Even though that was exactly what you told (the girl)?”

“Just to get his attention,” he said.

On Tuesday, law enforcement officers testified about the forensic evidence collected from the scene and the rape examination conducted on the 15-year-old girl.

Closing arguments focused on the testimony of the brother and sister, which Assistant State’s Attorney Alison Foley said should be enough to convict Sutt of unlawful restraint and sexual assault, as well as the forensic evidence.

“You heard him say that he intended to kill everyone, and that’s exactly what (the teenagers) said he told them,” Foley said. “I ask you now to return to the jury room and return that (guilty) verdict.”

In his closing argument, Sutt continued his version of events, that the ligature marks on the girl’s feet were from sandals. “I don’t believe I’m the monster (the prosecution) says I am,” he said. “If I was there to do these habitual sex acts, why would I give her clothes (after)?”

He said he wouldn’t call the teenagers liars, but he believed they were coached to testify. He said his only motives were to keep the family together. “Look at everything,” he said. “That’s all I’m asking.”

Nolan’s rebuttal was aimed at Sutt’s repeated statements about the importance of family. “We are not painting him with a picture that he did not create himself,” she said. “You know what tears families apart? Tying up children in the basement and sexually assaulting a girl.”

Nolan said this was the most horrible night in the teenagers’ lives. “It was a brutal sexual assault that that girl endured, and then she came into this courtroom and told you about it,” she said. “You’ve heard the truth, now find the justice.”

Sutt remained calm as the verdict was read. He will be sentenced at a later date. He faces a minimum of 42 years in prison, of which he would be required to serve 85 percent. The maximum has not yet been calculated, but Gibbons said it would be well over 100 years. “We will be asking for a very, very long sentence,” he said.

Gibbons said it was a very difficult case for the prosecution, since Sutt chose to represent himself. When asked about the jury’s quick verdict, he said it was a reflection of the abundance of evidence. “The quick verdict tells us resoundingly that the evidence was there and the defendant was guilty,” he said.

The names of the victims and their family members are being withheld as part of the News-Democrat’s policy not to name victims of sexual assault without their permission. The jury was selected Monday and the trial began Tuesday.

This story was originally published July 20, 2016 at 3:44 PM with the headline "‘Disgusting, despicable act’: Jerry Sutt convicted in Collinsville rape case."