Orr takes stand in jail sex case
Closing arguments slated for today

By Bill Donovan
Staff Writer

GALLUP — Brian Orr took the stand in his own defense Wednesday, denying that he had done anything improper with three women inmates who are accusing him of inappropriate behavior at the local adult detention facility when he was chief of security there.

Orr, who is charged with three counts of criminal sexual penetration, also argued that if anything improper had happened, it would have been caught by one or more of the cameras that are placed all around the jail and monitored 24/7.

Both sides rested on Wednesday and are scheduled to give closing arguments on today, with the jury expected to start deliberating late in the morning or early in the afternoon.

With the testimony over, the case centers on the "she said, she said, she said, he said" scenario.

The women, all inmates from Wyoming, were transferred to the Gallup jail in 2003 because jails in their state were overcrowded. All three testified that during the time here, Orr took sexual advantage of them either in the stairwells or in his office.

Orr said it couldn't have happened because of the cameras and because his office had an uncovered window.

Steve Seeger, his defense attorney, tried to get District Court Judge Robert Aragon to give a directed verdict in favor of his client because the prosecution had failed to provide any collaborating evidence.

He pointed out that all of the accusers were in jail on various charges dealing with deception and fraud and all had a motive to lie about the incidents.

"There is no credible evidence in this case," he said.

Aragon denied the request, saying it was a matter of credibility and that was an issue that the jury had to decide.

During the time when the incidents were supposed to have occurred the summer of 2003 through early 2004 the jail facility was in the midst of turmoil: several inmates had escaped and the county was just beginning to realize that the private company that was in charge of running the facility, Management Training Center, needed to be replaced.

Mike Calligan, chief prosecuting attorney for the district attorney's office, questioned the reliability of the cameras that dotted the building and the monitoring, pointing out that four prisoners were able to escape without anyone noticing them on the cameras.

Orr said that as chief of security, he was aware that there were accusations of improper sexual activity going on in the jail. He said he had one report saying some female inmates were engaging in sexual activity with one another and another case where a guard was alleged to have had a sexual relationship with one of the female inmates.

But Orr said when he resigned in June of 2005, there had been no charges filed against him and that he was unaware of any charges being filed until he was told of a newspaper article that appeared the following September.

Calligan questioned him about why he hadn't made an effort at that time to address the charges against him the district attorney's office had issued a fugitive warrant for his arrest but he said he was in training in Las Vegas, Nev., for a job with the Union Pacific and he didn't want to take a chance of losing the job.

He eventually lost the job the next February when he was arrested and extradited to Gallup to be arraigned.

Seeger, during his questioning of the three female accusers, asked why they went to the American Civil Liberties Union to get their grievances addressed and not to local authorities, inferring that they got the ACLU involved in a scheme to get money.

But the women said they did try first to bring up the allegations with local authorities one said she wrote a letter to the sheriff's office but the charges were either ignored or nothing was done about them.

There had been discussions Tuesday indicating that an ACLU attorney would be called to the stand to testify how the organization got involved, but no one from the ACLU was able to attend the trial.