The trial of former Fairview High School star quarterback Aidan Atkinson began Monday as a jury was tasked with sorting out the events that took place in 2018 on a party bus, where Atkinson is accused of sexually abusing two female students.
Atkinson, 19, was arrested in 2019 on suspicion of three counts of sexual assault, one charge of attempted sexual assault, and five charges of unlawful sexual contact as a juvenile. Because the incident occurred when he was under 18, Atkinson is being tried as a juvenile.
Boulder Chief Trial Deputy Catrina Weigel said during opening arguments that Atkinson and a group of about 40 other students from both Fairview and Boulder high schools rented a party bus to celebrate Fairview’s homecoming on Sept. 15, 2018
“It was on this party bus that Aidan Atkinson used the alcohol, the atmosphere, and his popularity amongst the students at Fairview High school to sexually abuse two girls,” Weigel said.
But defense attorney Lara Mars Baker in her opening arguments said Atkinson was not guilty and that this was a case “about a high school gossip chain, an overreaching and flawed investigation, and… ‘a group of kids all about drama.’”
Weigel said a girl who was a junior at Fairview got on the bus intoxicated, and sat next to Atkinson. The prosecutor said the girl knew Atkinson as a friend, but was not romantically interested. But Weigel told the jurors that what started as Atkinson helping hold her up turned into an unwanted sexual advance.
“She’s pushing his hand away, she is clenching her legs together, but he does not stop what he is doing,” Weigel said.
Weigel said was is only when someone else confronted Atkinson that he stopped what he was doing. But Weigel said when the party bus arrived at a restaurant in Westminster, Atkinson continued to touch the girl.
When they got back on the bus, Weigel told the jury, Atkinson instead focused on a new victim, another high school junior. Weigel said this girl was so intoxicated that other witnesses described her as “limp,” but Weigel said Atkinson groped and physically abused her.
“A lot of people know what happened on that bus in 2018,” Weigel said.
Baker, the defense attorney, told the jury that while the prosecution planned to present witnesses from the party bus, many of them would be relying on rumor or alcohol-influenced memories that might not tell the whole story.
“The photographic and video evidence will,” Baker said. “There are photos and videos that were taken the night of Sept. 15 (2018) that will tell you a very different story than the one the people just gave you.”
Baker described Atkinson’s behavior with the two girls as consensual. She also noted the allegations were not reported until 2019, and then only by another girl who said she saw what happened to both students.
“This is a group of teenagers who got caught up in being caught up in the drama of the high school quarterback being accused of sexual misconduct,” Baker told the jury.
This trial is set to take place over nine days.
Following Atkinson’s arrest, prosecutors added more charges to the case that had not been made public, but during a motions hearing in September attorneys said the charges were related to sexual exploitation allegations that happened at a private residence three months after the alleged party bus incident.
Atkinson is set for a separate five-day trial on those two counts starting April 19.
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