Det. Charles Radliff, of the Bethlehem police, said today in an Albany County court he accepted an offer of free hockey tickets from ex-River Rat Robert Bobby Hughes during his first interview with him.
`He offered me the tickets,` Radliff said. `I said, ‘oh, that’d be nice, I’d enjoy going to the game.’`
Hughes told the detective tickets have to be picked up at will call before games. It was not clear if Radliff ever picked up any tickets.
Radliff said he did not view the offer as a bribe, and was talking about hockey to attempt to make Hughes comfortable during an initial interview.
`I just figured it was him being friendly,` Radliff said.
He declined to speak with reporters outside of court.
Radliff was one of four witnesses who took the stand on the fourth day of testimony in the trial of Hughes, who is accused of sexually assaulting a Bethlehem woman in October of 2008.
Jurors also heard from My Place and Co. owner James Giaconne, who viewed security video along with Radliff several days after the alleged incident. Hughes and the alleged victim met at the Delmar sports bar and restaurant.
That video will not be part of the trial because a copy was never made before the security system wrote over it again 21 days later. Radliff had requested a copy after the two viewed it and made followup calls asking the same, but Giaconne said he didn’t know how to make one and had difficulty getting his technician in.
`At the end of the video there was nothing there, and I thought that’s why he didn’t press for a copy of the tape,` Giaconne said.
Radliff acknowledged he could have applied for a search warrant or employed police technicians to assist in making a copy of the tape, but did not take these measures because he did not observe anything notable in the footage.
`I didn’t feel there was that much in the video,` he said. `I didn’t think it was that pertinent to the investigation.`
Both witnesses said they had observed the video looking for intoxicated behavior on the part of Hughes or the alleged victim, or the woman’s drink being tampered with.
Receipts from the bar show Hughes, then 20, purchased six pints of Bud Light and food during his time there.
Radliff also outlined Hughes’ initial interview with police several days after the alleged October 18 incident, when he denied having any sexual contact with the woman. His defense attorney is now arguing the contact occurred, but it was a consensual one-night stand.
According to Radliff, Hughes said he had offered the woman a ride home after meeting her at the sports bar, but once in his truck she couldn’t remember where she lived. He went to his apartment on Elm Avenue to avoid driving aimlessly`in part because he had been drinking and didn’t want to be pulled over`where the woman fell out of the car. Hughes said he went inside and when he came out five minutes later, she was gone.
In a written statement to police, Hughes said, `So I brought her to the parking lot outside my apartment and let her go.`
He also described her at the bar:
`In my opinion, the woman seemed to be very intoxicated and possibly on drugs.`
Hughes voluntarily gave detectives a DNA sample at that time. Forensic scientists testified today that Hughes’ DNA was discovered on a rape kit swab made on the victim’s body the evening after the alleged incident.
Defense attorney Robert Molloy also asked Radliff if he had been at My Place on October 18, a question he has posed to other witnesses who were there. Radliff said he was not.
Check back to spotlightnews.com for updates on the trial.
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