Man Accused of Sexually Assaulting a Woman at a St. Cloud Hotel Goes on Trial Today

(KNSI) — A jury trial is scheduled to start today in the case of a man accused of raping a woman while she was asleep at a St. Cloud hotel.

According to the criminal complaint, police were called to the Days Inn on September 1st, 2019, to investigate a sexual assault complaint. A woman there told police she had been drinking with friends that day, including a man named Kyle Kirsch. She told police Kirsch and his wife got into a fight and she left the hotel. About 1:00 that afternoon, the woman, Kirsch and another man went to her room to take a nap.

The woman told investigators she and Kirsch were on one bed and the other man was in the second bed. She said when she went to sleep, she was fully clothed. When she woke up to someone knocking at the door, she said that her pants and underwear were pulled down to her knees and Kirsch was on top of her. She said she did not consent to sex with Kirsch and began screaming at him, which woke up the other person in the room.

The other person in the room said the woman was saying Kirsch raped her and that Kirsch kept saying he was sorry. At one point, the man says Kirsch got down on his knees, crying and apologizing.

According to the criminal complaint, Kirsch told police they had been drinking that day, and they were in bed cuddling, but he did not have sex with the woman but said the two were friends and she had no reason to lie.

Kirsch was charged with third-degree criminal sexual conduct with a victim who is mentally impaired or helpless. He was scheduled to go on trial last year, but it was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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