Blood sample in assault case never tested

Published 12:34 pm Thursday, April 10, 2014

No toxicology test was performed on a blood sample taken from a Warren County woman who testified that she was sexually assaulted by a former Vicksburg police officer, jurors heard Wednesday.

Multiple witnesses have testified that the wo

David D. “Bo” McLeod, 39, who lives on Rawhide Lane, is accused of sexually assaulting her, but how much she had to drink remains unclear.

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A blood sample was taken at River Region Medical Center where she underwent a sexual assault exam, but the sample was never tested for drugs or alcohol.

“Initially I assumed it was part of the kit that would be done at the hospital,” Warren County Investigator Chris Satcher testified Wednesday.

The woman testified Tuesday that she did not remember how much she had been drinking or of having sex with McLeod in the bed of her home.

The Vicksburg Post does not identify victims of sexual assault.

On Wednesday, her son testified that the woman appeared highly intoxicated in the early morning hours of Jan. 25, 2012, when McLeod is accused of assaulting her.

“She was passed drunk, I believe,” said the son. “She was really bad. If she tried to stand up straight she swayed back and forth.”

The son’s friend testified that the woman was stumbling and talking incoherently before passing out.

When Warren County deputies arrived, the woman was alert, though she was stumbling and smelled of alcohol, Sgt. Ford Emery said on the witness stand.

Prosecutors say McLeod took advantage of the woman while she was passed out, but defense attorney James “Buck” Penley Jr. contends the woman had consensual sex with McLeod but was ashamed to admit it because they are related.

McLeod was employed with the Vicksburg Police Department from 1998 to 2003 and from 2009 to 2011. At the time of his arrest in February 2012 he was a member of the eight-county North Central Narcotics Task Force based in Greenwood.

If convicted, McLeod faces up to 30 years in prison and must register as a sex offender.

Testimony was scheduled to continue this morning with DNA expert Bo Scales of Brandon.

man was drinking the night