A 35-year-old Orion Township resident will face trial in Oakland County Circuit Court for allegedly raping a 19-year-old Clarkston woman near the DTE Energy Music Theater Friday, May 28.
After a preliminary exam Thursday, July 1, 52-2 District Judge Michael Batchik continued the $500,000 cash-only bond for Gregory H. Combs, binding him over for trial on two counts of first degree criminal sexual conduct.
Charges were filed after the woman reported the attack on a secondary entrance road as she was walking out of the theater complex to meet friends.
Representatives of the Oakland County Sheriff’s Department testified as to their discovery of the incident and their interviews of the two parties. Batchik allowed the young woman to testify in a courtroom closed to the public and media.
Later in open court, Batchik confirmed that the woman claimed Combs forced her into multiple sex acts.
Deputy Chad Abbuhl said he was working special road patrol in the area of the theater during the Eddie Money concert when he was called in to the sheriff’s command trailer. While on a secondary entrance road at approximately 11 p.m., Abbuhl said he saw the couple lying off the roadway.
Noticing the woman’s pants around her knees and Combs ‘kneeling over her,? Abbuhl first told the couple to ‘take it elsewhere.? When he observed the woman push Combs off her, the deputy asked them if they knew each other.
‘She was hysterical,? Abbuhl said about her report of the rape. ‘She was crying.?
Both parties were taken to the command trailer, where Detective Ken Alderman interviewed the woman. Alderman testified that she was ‘visibly shaken? and had dried blood on her nose, face and hands and two bruises on her neck.
In his cross-examination of witnesses and comments after Batchik’s decision, defense attorney Raymond A. Cassar said investigators did not have firm proof to back up the woman’s claims.
In answer to Cassar’s questions, Abbuhl said he did not actually see a sex act in progress. Cassar also quizzed Alderman about his efforts to seek more information from the woman, claiming there was lack of detail about sexual acts in her original written statement.
‘Obviously there was something very important she didn’t include in the [original] report,? Cassar said.
‘I just told her not to be embarrassed on be more specific,? Alderman said.
‘This is an issue of credibility,? Cassar concluded. ‘This was a consensual act. It’s her word against his.?
Batchik also refused to lower bond even though Cassar said Combs had family members in the courtroom and is trying to support a five-year-old son.
‘The testimony has been very clear from the victim as to what happened,? Oakland County Assistant Prosecutor Sandra Person Scott said. ‘The witnesses are very credible. [The bond] is appropriate considering the seriousness of the offense.?
Combs, clean-shaven and with a short haircut, sat at the defendant’s table with Cassar and was not called to testify.
The date of Combs? first appearance in circuit court was not immediately available, but Scott said he must be arraigned there within 14 days of the district judge’s decision.