Jury finds Denver cardiologist Stephen Matthews guilty of nearly all charges in sexual assault trial

Jurors in Denver on Tuesday found Stephen Matthews guilty of nearly all counts of sexual assault brought against him. The Denver cardiologist has been on trial for the past several weeks, charged with meeting women on dating apps, drugging 11 of them, and sexually assaulting nine of them.

Matthews pleaded not guilty in October 2023 to all 38 counts, all of which are felonies.  

The jury returned guilty verdicts on all counts except for three sexual assault-related charges involving one victim in which the jury returned not guilty verdicts. In relation to that same victim, the jury downgraded the second-degree assault charge to a third-degree assault charge and found Matthews guilty on that charge. 

In all, the jury returned guilty verdicts on 35 counts, including sexual assault and second-degree assault charges. 

For the victims, the guilty verdicts offer some sort of justice but they say it doesn't erase what happened. 

"A verdict doesn't change what happened to you. There are lifelong physical and emotional things that I will be dealing with as a result of what happened to me," said one victim who wanted to be identified as Audrey. 

"He took away years of our life. Healing... the ability to go out and live freely without being worried that we're going to be under attack. He took away a lot from us. He took away our memory, so he doesn't get to have a reaction. He did this," said one victim who did not want to be identified. 

During closing arguments last week, prosecutors emphasized that the women offered very similar accounts of their experiences. During trial testimony, the women said they met Matthews through online dating apps like Hinge and Tinder beginning in 2019 and continuing through early 2023.

The women said that after having drinks with the physician, they lost memory of what happened next and believed they were drugged and, in some cases, sexually assaulted.

In court on Tuesday, Matthews appeared emotional while the judge read the dozens of guilty verdicts, frequently putting his head in his hands and crying. 

That show of emotion is something one of his victims believes is not real. 

"I think he's not sorry for what he did. I think he's sorry he got caught," said Audrey.  

Prosecutors said Matthews was strategic in identifying his targets, meeting them at locations near his home before inviting them over. They added these were clear, deliberate patterns by Matthews and believe he should be found guilty.

"What we do know is that this is an obvious, obvious case of a man who feels entitled to perpetrate against women for his own benefit, by robbing them of memory, by robbing them of bodily autonomy, and by impairing their memories," prosecutors said.

Meanwhile, defense attorneys argued during their closing statements that the case included many inconsistent stories from alleged victims, without any proof of evidence.

"This would be a case about stories, and at the end of the case, the DA's closing rested largely on stories, accusing stories that changed and often went untested by the government," defense attorneys said. "The case did have a lot of overwhelming emotion. We all were moved by the testimony that you heard. It was tough to listen to, but that's what the case ended up being about, overwhelming emotion and underwhelming evidence."

"Stephen Matthews took advantage of nearly a dozen women in the most egregious way imaginable, and for that he will now pay a significant price. I hope today's verdict provides a measure of comfort to all the victims, whose courage throughout this case should be an inspiration to us all," said Denver District Attorney Beth McCann in a statement. "I want to thank the prosecutors, investigators, victim advocates and paralegals from my office, as well as the detectives from the Denver Police Department, whose outstanding work got us to this point today. I also want to thank the jurors for their service during this lengthy and emotional trial. Justice was clearly served today."

After the month-long trial, one victim said she was grateful for the jury. 

"I really commend them for taking the time and not rushing it, and looking at all of our evidence, listening and taking notes during the trial," said one victim who did not want to be identified. 

For Audrey, her gratitude extends to CBS Colorado Investigator Brian Maass who listened to her story, and helped bring this case forward, "He believed me right away, so I'm really grateful for him and his support."

Matthews has remained in custody at the Denver jail on a $5 million bond since his arrest. Sentencing for Matthews is set for Oct. 25.