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Former KU GTA charged with rape wants to withdraw plea
VICKY DÍAZ-CAMACHO
@vickyd_c
Former University of Kansas graduate teaching assistant Orion Mark Graf attended a motion hearing on July 22 to withdraw his no-contest plea to charges of rape.
This May, Graf, 39, pleaded no contest on counts of rape and aggravated sodomy against an 18-year-old when his former attorney, Branden Smith, represented him. Represented by his new attorney, Michael Clarke, Graf said he'd like a mental evaluation to ascertain whether he was competent at the time of the original plea.
"These were alleged crimes against my ex-girlfriend," Graf, a former GTA with the ecology and evolutionary biology department, wrote for the defendant portion of the investigation report.
Background
The rape charges are in addition to last year's conviction against Graf for hiding video cameras in the Gap at 643 Massachusetts St. between 2012 and 2013, in violation of K.S.A. 21- 6106(a)(6), also known as breach of privacy.
Investigators found a small camera and several thousand video clips on his computers. The content of these devices total around 85 GB of data or "thousand and thousands"of files — "that's a lot," the report stated.
According to official complaints filed with Senior Assistant District Attorney Amy McGowan, Graf was convicted of 10 counts for conceal
ing video cameras in the store. He also pleaded no contest to these charges.
In April 2014, Lawrence Detective Mike Schneider recovered photos on Graf's phone and computer of an unknown female" that he "believed to be evidence of a possible sex crime," according to case files.
This was during last year's investigation of the breach of privacy case, showing the unconscious or sleeping victim while Graf committed "sexual acts," according to court documents. The evidence was handed over to Lawrence Police Officer Josh Leitner.
Leitner identified the unconscious
SEE GTA PAGE 05
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Former graduate teaching assistant Orion Mark Graf, 39, has been charged with rape and aggravated sodomy. These follow earlier charges of breach of privacy as he is also charged with hiding cameras in the Gap, located at 643 Massachusetts St.
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