Deaf Parolee To Stand Trial For Raping Deaf Woman

From: SanDiego Channel.com - San Diego,CA,USA - Nov 18, 2004

Judge Rules Cogswell To Stand Trial For Two Counts Of Rape

November 18, 2004 SAN DIEGO -- A paroled rapist accused of sexually attacking a female friend who is deaf like him must stand trial on two counts of rape, a judge ruled.

Following a preliminary hearing, Judge Joel Pressman found enough evidence to support the rape counts against Henry Ivan Cogswell, 29, and single counts of oral copulation and digital penetration. Two sign language interpreters were in the Vista courtroom for yesterday's hearing.

The defendant and alleged victim are part of a tight-knit circle of deaf friends and family members, prosecutor Christine Trevino said.

The victim, 33, testified that she drove to an apartment complex on Smilax Road in San Marcos around midnight June 9, where she communicated with the defendant for a while.

After a time, Cogswell forced her to undress -- while still in the car -- and pulled her onto his seat, where he raped her, she said through an interpreter.

The defendant also forced her down in what she described as a wrestling hold.

Cogswell "was being really fast and really rough with me, like he had no regard for my body," the slightly built victim said. "I hurt all over my whole body."

The woman said she either passed out or fell asleep, and it was light when she awoke, still in the car.

The two drove to a bank, she said. When she went to a gas station restroom, he followed her in and asked for more sex, which she refused, she said.

She then drove the defendant back to the apartment complex, where he raped her in the back seat of the car, which was in a parking lot in broad daylight, she said.

"I felt like he was torturing me," she said.

Cogswell spent seven years in prison for raping another deaf woman, the mother of his children, Trevino said.

The latest victim was a friend of that woman and met Cogswell through her, Trevino said.

It was that woman who suggested, in an e-mail two days later, that she contact police, the victim said.

Cogswell was booked into county jail on June 14.

A Superior Court arraignment is set for Dec. 9, when Trevino said she may add a third rape count against Cogswell, who faces about 140 years to life in prison if convicted.

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