Brigham City • On the witness stand Tuesday, Torrey Green calmly repeated the same thing over and over: He didn’t rape anyone. He wasn’t a rapist.
The same jury heard six women last week tearfully testify that the former Utah State University football player had assaulted them. But Green said he either had consensual sex with the women — or that sex never happened.
The former athlete with NFL potential told jurors he did have some regrets, however, about his interactions with the women. He wishes he would have treated dating relationships differently when he was a student in Logan between 2013 and 2015. He could have been more upfront about not being interested in a long-term relationship.
“Particularly these women,” he said of his accusers. “I wish I didn’t break their hearts. I could have done a better job of letting them know I didn’t want to be in a lasting relationship, and I’m sorry for that.”
Green faces 11 felonies in connection with the women’s accusations. He took the stand Tuesday during the second week of trial, telling jurors that though he had a lot of casual sex in college, he still had respect for women. He would not have continued having sex with someone, he said, if he knew she was not comfortable.
Despite a blistering cross-examination from prosecutors, Green remained calm throughout much of the day. He only became emotional when asked about his goals and NFL dreams that were shattered when the accusations became public and he was cut from the Atlanta Falcons.
Green answered questions about the women and their allegations Tuesday. Here’s a look at what the women say happened and what he said took place:
M.H.’s testimony • The woman testified last week that Green assaulted her in November 2013.
M.H. said he met Green on Tinder, and they eventually made plans to have dinner at his apartment.
After dinner, they went to Green’s bedroom to watch a movie. He asked if he could give her a massage, the woman testified, and she agreed — but told him he could touch her only over her clothing. When he began lifting up her shirt and trying to take off her clothes, she asked him to stop.
“It was a struggle,” she testified. “And he was getting my clothes off, and I was really scared.”
He told her that she would like it, she testified, and he eventually overpowered her and raped her on his bed.
Green’s account • He testified that he met M.H. on Tinder, and that she came over to his apartment for dinner and a movie. He said after they went into his bedroom, she agreed to let him massage her — and she took off her shirt.
Green testified that they took off their clothes and had consensual sex. He said she never told him “no” or pushed him away.
“Did she appear to be frightened in any way?” his attorney Skye Lazaro asked.
“No,” he responded.
Carson Davis’ testimony • Davis testified that she met Green at USU’s Taggart Student Center and gave him her number. She said they set up a date in the fall of 2014, and he picked her up from her dorm room. The plan was to go to his apartment, where he would cook her dinner and they would watch a movie.
They didn’t end up eating dinner, Davis testified, but went into his bedroom to watch a movie.
Once there, they began kissing — “I was OK with that,” she testified — but then he started grabbing her buttocks and leg. She told him she wasn’t comfortable with the touching, but Green laughed it off. When she tried to leave, she testified, he pinned her against the wall. She eventually ended up on the bed, she said, where he removed her pants and raped her.
Green’s account • He similarly recounted how he met Davis on campus.
But he said he didn’t have sex with the woman that night, explaining to jurors that he had been taking a pill to treat chlamydia and was instructed to not have sex because it’s contagious. He said he did ask to touch her butt but did not want to have sex with her.
“Catherine’s” testimony • The woman, identified in previous Salt Lake Tribune coverage by the pseudonym “Catherine,” reported to police that Green sexually assaulted her in January 2015 after she went to his apartment to watch a movie.
She testified last week that she told Green she didn’t want to have sex, but he forced himself on her.
Afterward, she said Green told her, “You’re not the kind of girl who would report a rape, right? Because that would ruin my career.”
She perceived the comment as a threat.
“The fact that he was the one who used the word ‘rape,’ I knew that he knew that what he did was wrong,” she testified.
Green’s account • He testified that when they were in his apartment, they began kissing and he asked to take off her bra — which she consented to do. But she seemed nervous, he said, and he at one point stopped and asked her if she was OK with having sex.
“I don’t want to pressure you into doing anything you don’t want to do,” he recalled telling her. “I don’t want you to be someone who accuses me of doing something you didn’t want to do.”
Green said that she told him they were fine to continue. But as they continued having sex, Green said he felt uncomfortable with the conversation they had — remembering how coaches had told him through his life that he should never pressure anyone into having sex.
He testified that he stopped having sex with her at that point.
L.P.’s testimony • The woman testified last week that she met Green on Tinder, and they made plans to watch a movie at his apartment.
She testified that Green tried to kiss her, and she told him no. She said his “demeanor changed” after she rebuffed his advances, and she became frightened. He cuddled her on his bed, she testified, and when she tried to leave, he pinned her against a bathroom vanity and pushed her legs apart. She testified that he began grinding his body against hers.
She was able to leave the bathroom, she said, but Green pinned her to a wall and continued pressing against her.
She described the encounter to jurors as “being raped with my clothes on.”
Green’s account • He testified that he and L.P. had made plans to “Netflix and chill” — a slang term that generally means starting to watch a movie with the eventual expectation of sexual contact.
He said they were sitting on the bed together when he asked to kiss her. She said no, he recalled. He then asked to kiss her on the cheek, he testified, and she agreed to that. Green said he also asked her to cuddle, and she consented to that. He testified that they had no other sexual contact.
A.P.’s testimony • The woman said she met Green on Tinder in late May or early June 2015. Late one night, he came over to her apartment despite her saying that she was tired.
He started grabbing and kissing her, she said, while moving her to her bedroom. He started to pull off her clothing, despite her protests. She said he continued to ignore her, pulled off her clothing, and had sex with her.
After the alleged assault, she said, he lay on her bed and demanded she do the same. He snapped a photo of the two of them, she said, and she smiled because he asked her to.
Green’s account • He testified that he went to her apartment late one night and was greeted with A.P. wearing nothing but her underwear and a blanket wrapped around her.
He said they went into her room, sat on her bed and began talking about sex.
Green testified that they began kissing and had consensual sex. He described her as “laughing,” “smiling” and “really engaged.”
He added that they did take a photo together but said he did not force the picture.
C.H.’s testimony • The woman said she was a USU sophomore when she met Green on Tinder in August 2015.
They went to Aggie Ice Cream, then back to his apartment to watch a movie. They began to kiss — which she consented to — but then he put his hand up her shirt and down her pants, she said. She said she tried pushing him away, but he raped her.
Green’s account • He testified that after they went out for ice cream, he took C.H. back to his apartment, and they began watching a movie.
They started having consensual sex, he testified, but stopped at some point because she told him it was hurting. She didn’t tell him to stop, he said, only to slow down. They continued to try to have to sex, Green testified. But after she complained about it hurting again, he said he stopped.
“It’s not fun if the other person is hurting,” he said.
The Tribune generally does not identify alleged victims of sexual assault. Davis agreed to the use of her name, and others agreed to the use of pseudonyms or initials.
In July 2016, The Tribune published a story outlining four alleged assaults involving Green that Logan police had investigated and where little action was taken.
Green testified he was “shocked” when he got a phone call from a reporter asking about these reports. He said he was devastated when media reports led him to being cut from the Atlanta Falcons, where he had just signed a contract.
On the stand, he tearfully recalled a coach telling him, “We gotta let you go. You’re a good player and you’re gonna be something special. You just got to get through this part of your life."
Former NCAA college football player Torrey Green testifies during his rape trial, Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2019, in Brigham City, Utah. Green is accused of raping multiple women while he was a football player at Utah State. (Eli Lucero/The Herald Journal via AP)
Green told jurors that his goals were not just to be in the NFL but to be an example of success to kids in his hometown of Rubidoux, Calif. He began to cry as he testified that the saying in his town was, “Nothing good comes out of Rubidoux.”
"I wanted to be the person that came back and did something for my community," he cried.
During cross-examination, Deputy Cache County Attorney Spencer Walsh focused much of his questioning on the “unbelievable similarities” between the women’s accounts. Green dismissed the similarities, saying, “It’s a coincidence.”
Walsh went through each of the women’s accounts, questioning Green about the details and asking each time whether Green raped that woman. Each time, Green said he didn’t.
Prosecutors have cast Green as a sexual predator, telling jurors that he used his charm to get women alone before forcing sex on them.
Lazaro, the defense attorney, told jurors in her opening statement that the women accusing Green of sexual assault were upset with him for various reasons — because he did not want to go on a second date, or because he was at a party with a different woman, for example. She also said the women were “needing attention.”
The trial will continue Wednesday, and attorneys have said it’s possible that closing arguments could take place that afternoon.
