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Trials set for Oxford rape case suspects

Trial dates have been set for two of the three men suspected of raping a 19-year-old woman in Oxford in February.

Roger Simpson, 23, will go on trial Jan. 2, 2018 and Elijah Mincy, 21, will go on trial Jan. 23. A trial date for 21-year-old Rodney Gibson II has not been determined.

They face a combined 72 charges of rape, sexual battery and kidnapping.

The 19-year-old female who was assaulted is not a Miami student, Oxford Police said, and was visiting friends in Oxford on Saturday, Feb. 11. She was at a party with her friends when they were separated and she was "lured to another apartment by the three males" where they assaulted her, according to a statement from Oxford police chief John Jones.

Butler County prosecutor Michael Gmoser described the incident to The Miami Student in July as "a case of almost near unparalleled brutality."

Gibson and Mincy were previously enrolled at Miami's Hamilton campus and

held part-time positions in dining for the university.

According to police records, Gibson's residence is the Level 27 apartment where the reported assault occurred.

The three suspects were arrested on July 14 and are being held at the Butler County Jail. Gibson and Mincy's bonds are set at $250,000 and Simpson's at $300,000.

All three suspects entered not guilty pleas at their arraignments.

Mincy's attorney, Michele Temmel, filed a motion on July 28 to reduce Mincy's bond. The motion was denied.

Temmel filed another motion Sept. 8 requesting the court reconsider reducing Mincy's bond.

Mincy had no prior criminal convictions and has cooperated with investigators, the motion claims. The statement refers to the Cincinnati native as a Miami University first-year student studying psychology at the university's Hamilton campus and references Mincy's job as an employee at Garden Commons, a dining hall on Miami's Oxford campus.

The motion calls the case a "he-said, she-said case" and alleges it is "questionable" whether the victim was "substantially impaired" at the time of the offense.

Kelly Heile, who is representing the Butler County prosecutor's office on all three cases, confirmed that this second motion to reduce Mincy's bond was also denied.

Leading up to the trials, there is still a substantial amount of evidence to sift through, Heile said.

"It doesn't really speak to the strength of the evidence," Heile said. "But what it means is that there's a lot of stuff to go through and a lot of information to sort out."

willi501@miamioh.edu

@emilye_williams