Miami, defense wants transcript barred from trial in campus sexual assault case

The prosecutor wants transcript of campus disciplinary hearing; attorneys argue hearings are private.

Yuyang David Bai

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By Lauren Pack, Staff Writer Updated 8:52 AM Thursday, March 18, 2010

HAMILTON — Attorneys for Miami University and a student to be tried for a Halloween campus sexual assault are trying to block the release of the transcript from a university disciplinary hearing on the incident.

The transcript was a focus of a pretrial hearing for Yuyang David Bai, 20, of Naperville, Ill., on Wednesday, March 17, before Butler County Common Pleas Judge Michael Sage. Bai is charged with gross sexual imposition, assault and aggravated robbery.

According to Miami police, one of their officers walked in on a sexual assault of a female student in progress on Oct. 31, 2009, in Gaskill Hall that led to a struggle over that officer’s gun.

Assistant Prosecutor Jason Phillabaum said he wanted the tape or a transcript to use should Bai choose to testify at his jury trial set to begin at 9 a.m. Tuesday, March 23. He is free on bond.

Defense attorney Wayne Staton and attorneys representing the university argued that students participate in disciplinary hearings with the understanding their answers cannot be used in a criminal proceeding.

Sage said he would issue a ruling this week.

Attorneys representing McCullough-Hyde Memorial Hospital in Oxford objected to Staton’s request for the woman’s medical records from Oct. 31, 2009. She was treated prior to the alleged assault, but she would not consent to their release. Staton said the time she was admitted and released during the early morning hours of Oct. 31 is “critical to our case.”

Sage did permit the defense access to a hospital form showing admission and release times.

Sage also said he would allow Staton to tell the jury about Bai’s academic record and aspirations of medical school, but said the defense “does not have the right to emotionally appeal to the jury to not ruin his life by finding him guilty.”

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