This morning, Vuckovic is being sentenced on the lesser charge, triggering a protest by a group called End Rape Culture. Meanwhile, a Vuckovic pal has pleaded not guilty to a rape allegation of his own.
According to the Fort Collins Coloradoan, Vuckovic, 24, worked as a barback at Yeti Bar and Grill in Old Town Fort Collins, while his roommate, Dennis Hanson, 29, served as a bartender at the same establishment. They were subsequently fired after accusations against them came to light.
What happened? On the evening of December 18, 2012, Vuckovic and Hanson are said to have invited two young women, ages nineteen and eighteen, respectively, back to their place, provided them with multiple alcohol shots and then had sex with them.Were these acts consensual? Authorities didn't think so, and offered as evidence the condition of the nineteen year old who had been with Vuckovic. Early on December 19, as reported by the Coloradoan, she was found on the porch of a home near Vuckovic's wearing only a pink towel despite temperatures in the mid-thirties. Still wet from a shower, she was described as vomiting blood and bleeding from a cut near her genitals. In addition, she was described as suffering from bruising on her neck and "broken blood vessels around her eyes consistent with strangulation."
At an area hospital, she was given four pints of blood and one pint of plasma.
When it came time for the trial, however, the woman's inability to remember anything after downing the shots made getting a sex-assault conviction problematic. In the end, a jury found Vuckovic guilty only of providing alcohol to a minor.
This verdict incensed End Rape Culture, which staged a protest march reportedly featuring signs like this one....
...and this one: The plan for Vuckovic's sentencing is described on a Facebook event page: "We will be meeting outside the court house...and sit together on right hand side. (Prosecution side). We won't be allowed to bring in posters or such but one person is designing a t-shirt that says 'Rape Is Not Cool.'"In the meantime, the Coloradoan notes that Hanson has entered a not-guilty plea in regard to his own rape accusation. A preliminary hearing in his case, held earlier this year, included assertions of multiple injuries sustained by the woman: At the hospital, she was reportedly crying and in pain.
As for Hanson, he initially denied having sex with the woman but later told the cops he'd taken Viagra and Adderall in anticipation of doing just that. A video on Hanson's cell phone was also shared: In it, a man's voice asks if he can "do whatever I want to you?"
Vuckovic is being sentenced at 10:30 a.m. today at the Larimer County Courthouse. Here's a larger look at his booking photo, followed by Hanson's mug shot.
More from our Colorado Crimes archive circa May: "Dony Salazar's DNA ties him to rape a month before he stabbed a pregnant woman."
