Colorado cardiologist date rape trial begins, prosecutor says "his true intentions were hidden"

Testimony began Monday in the trial of Dr. Stephen Matthews, charged with drugging and sexually assaulting nine women he met on dating apps between 2019 and 2023.

In her opening statement, prosecutor Bree Beasley told the jury Matthews "had a systematic, deliberate pattern" of finding women on dating apps like Hinge and Tinder, but that when he connected with the women, Beasley said the cardiologist drugged the women, then sexually assaulted them.

"His true intentions were hidden," Beasley told the jury, as she identified nine women who told remarkably similar stories of what happened after they agreed to meet Matthews. 

Matthews is facing 38 felony charges and prosecutors have said there were 11 victims. The women typically said after meeting at a restaurant or bar, they would go to Matthews' home and drink what he offered. Soon, the women said they lost their memory of what happened next. The women, ranging from a teacher to a nurse, said what happened to them was not consistent with just drinking alcohol.  

"He controlled the narrative because he controlled their memory," said Beasley.

The women said in some cases they vomited after drinking with Matthews but that when they recovered their memories, they remembered him having sex with them, which they said they had not agreed to. 

Beasley said when police searched Matthews' phone after his arrest in 2023, they found videos he had recorded of two of the women, although the women told police they had no recollection of being videotaped. 

Matthews has pleaded not guilty and in some cases, told the women the sex was consensual.

Beasley said the jury will be hearing from all the women during the course of the trial.

Matthews' attorney, Todd Narum, said in his opening statement the prosecution had "underwhelming evidence." He told jurors none of the women tested positive for any kind of date rape drug and that when police searched Matthews' townhome, they did not find any date rape drugs.

"If Dr. Matthews drugged these women, there would be a trace of it," said Narum. "All we have is subjective testimony." 

"It's the quality of the evidence, the quantity of the evidence that matters," said the defense attorney, as he tried to raise doubts about the multiple cases.

Earlier in the day, a jury of nine women and seven men were selected to hear the case, which is expected to last through the end of the month. Twelve will be actual jurors and four will be alternates, although the identity of the alternates won't be known until deliberations begin.

Matthews, wearing a blue button-down shirt and blue tie, seemed intently focused through the day. He is being held in the Denver jail on a $5 million bond.

Beasley said Matthews "gaslighted" the women after their dates, telling them that something must have happened to them after they left his home. She said jurors would hear from numerous "outcry" witnesses over the courts of the trial, along with an expert on "rape myths."  

Said Beasley, "Don't let the victim-blaming narrative distract you. The victims are not on trial."