The pretrial of former Kent State student McCoy Watkins, who has been charged with two counts of first-degree felony rape, has been scheduled for Dec. 11.
Watkins’ attorney, Jeffrey C. Kakish, requested thirty days to reschedule a pretrial date. Judge Laurie Pittman accepted the extension but said she would not allow further continuances. His first Nov. 21 jury trial date was canceled.
Portage County Prosecutor Connie Lewandowski said the trial was delayed because “the defense attorney has a new co-counsel, so they have not had an opportunity to review all of the evidence.”
Watkins’ next pretrial date is set for 11:15 a.m. Dec 11 at the Portage County Common Pleas Court in Ravenna.
This portion of the article was originally published Oct. 25.
Former Kent State student McCoy Watkins, who has been charged with two counts of first-degree felony rape, appeared in front of a jury Nov. 14. Watkins’ trial was initially scheduled for Aug. 21. In August, it was postponed to Nov. 21 by the district court. In court Monday, the judge set the Nov. 14 trial date.
The date comes over a year after Watkins, a 21-year-old from Canfield, allegedly raped a 19-year-old woman and an 18-year-old woman after returning uninvited to the home of an off-campus party off Lincoln Street Nov. 11, according to a Kent Police Department report that is now part of court record.
Both women were confirmed to be enrolled at Kent State at the time.
Emily Vincent, a Kent State spokesperson, confirmed Watkins is not enrolled at Kent State for the fall 2023 semester. In April, Watkins’ name remained in the university’s Flashline student directory and showed he was enrolled in the College of Architecture and Environmental Design at the Kent campus.
According to the police report, Watkins met the two women he allegedly assaulted at a party, and the women reported Watkins being “flirty” and allegedly asking one victim and her friend for a threesome, according to court documents.
One woman described Watkins as a “friend of a friend” and said she “didn’t know him that well.” She allegedly denied Watkins’s request for her to “come home with him” before he left the party.
Watkins allegedly returned to the home uninvited through an unlocked door and targeted the 19-year-old victim, who was on a couch, and the 18-year-old victim, who was half asleep in her room according to the police report.
A witness in the police report described him as “intoxicated” and “slurring his words and somewhat stumbling around.”
Watkins was indicted March 31 by a Portage County grand jury and remained incarcerated in Portage County jail from April 4 until May 5, when he was put on house arrest. He was released from house arrest after the court granted his bond modification request June 14.
Erin Sullivan is a photographer and TV2 reporter. Contact her at [email protected].
