Rape, incest case advances toward trial following prelim that included victim describing assaults

POCATELLO — A Blackfoot man charged with rape, lewd conduct with a minor and incest had his case bound over to District Court following a preliminary hearing this week.

Bill Montgomery Green, 19, faces two counts apiece of the felony charges for allegedly raping a family member twice. The case has been assigned to District Judge Javier Gabiola, though a District Court arraignment date has not yet been set.

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Green was arrested in May after the father of the victim reported sexual abuse to the Pocatello Police Department.

The victim, who testified during the preliminary hearing, said she did not know how to tell her father about the two incidents, but told a therapist who then encouraged her to tell her father.

She testified for roughly an hour Monday afternoon, explaining how she had only recently met Green when the alleged assaults occurred last November.

The first time it happened, she explained, the two were watching a TV show together after Green and his fiancee had been arguing. Part of the show, the victim continued, included incestuous sex.

Green, the victim said, remarked that he was “curious” about having sex with a family member, then asked if he could touch her leg.

Unsure how to feel, the victim allowed Green to touch her legs.

During cross-examination by defense attorney Sean Wynn, the victim explained that her abandonment issues left her incapable of denying things.

“I’ll do anything to have someone — to keep someone loving me,” the teen said.

Eventually, Green moved his hand up the girl’s leg. Then, he undressed and locked the victim’s bedroom door, telling her to get undressed as well.

The victim, who was in her pajamas said that after Green left the room, she felt what had just happened was her fault. She added that she felt comfortable being around Green in her pajamas because he was a relative.

“I figured it was my fault for wearing clothes like that — I was just too comfortable,” she said.

Asked if she believed Green had any negative feelings after the first assault of a young family member, the victim said she believed it “never really mattered to him.”

Green appeared to still be unaffected by the accusations, as his sat swiveling in his chair at the defendant table throughout the hearing — through occasional side-eyed glances from Magistrate Judge Carol Tippi Jarman.

Before the hearing started, Green was escorted out of the courtroom for a bathroom break. While walking through the room in shackles, Green said something about being a “rapist pedophile.” It is unclear if he made the statement in jest.

The victim described how she felt after the first rape, saying she was uncomfortable and in pain.

“I was kind of shaking — I can’t really explain it, I was shaky,” she said.

The second rape, the victim said as she continued to testify, was planned by Green. She and Green were with his fiancee and her friend when he said he would create time free from his fiancee and meet her in her bedroom.

That night, he came to her room, she said, locked the door and immediately undressed.

After testimony from the victim and witnesses, Jarman determined that probable cause justifying a jury trial existed, and bound the charges over to District Court.

Green remains in Bannock County Jail custody, being held on a $100,000 bond with a no-contact order barring him from any contact with the victim.

Though Green has been charged with these crimes, it does not necessarily mean he committed them. Everyone is presumed innocent until they are proven guilty.

If he is found guilty, Green would face up to life in prison.