Rocky Boy man faces prison term after rape conviction

A federal court jury convicted a Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation man of rape for having sex with a woman passed out after two days of drinking.

Edward Ronald Stamper, 37, faces up to life imprisonment and supervised release for five years to life when he is sentenced March 5, the U. S. Attorney's Office for the District of Montana announced in a press release. Stamper remains in custody pending the sentencing.

Witnesses during the trial in federal court in Great Falls testified that the victim had been dropped off at a friend's house Jan. 22, where they drank alcohol until going to Stamper's house.

The victim drank there until about 4:30 a. m., when she fell asleep. About 8 a. m. she and her friend left and purchased more alcohol, returning to Stamper's house the afternoon of Jan. 23 and continuing to drink.

During the evening, three other people came to the house and the group continued to drink.

A witness said the victim was "out of it drunk, " and after she passed out a friend carried her to a bedroom to sleep.

Another person at the party had passed out, and then three of the people there left to drive around the area.

The three were dropped off at Stamper's house after their car was stuck in a snowbank, one of the three said.

When they entered the house, he went to check on the victim, the man said, and saw Stamper having sex with her while she was motionless.

The witness testified that Stamper was startled, got up and said that the victim, who was naked from the waist down, had consented to having sex with him.

He testified that the victim began to wake up and started to cry, and Stamper began to fight him and another man who was at the party.

A woman escorted the victim upstairs, then she and two others from the party left to get help.

Stamper then called the police and reported he had been beaten up by the two men he had fought with.

Stamper told police he had been talking with the woman and she had invited him back into the bedroom, and that he thought she wanted to have sex. He said the woman was not unconscious while he had sex with her.

The victim told officers that she had been partying all day and had passed out. When she woke up, Stamper was having sex with her, she said. She said she tried to push him off, but he then held her arms and body down while having sex with her.

She said she did not consent to have sex with Stamper, and does not remember his asking her permission.