Carnegie Mellon student convicted of sex assault in 2018 case

A jury on Wednesday convicted a Carnegie Mellon University student of sexual assault for his attack on a University of Pittsburgh student last in year in an Oakland apartment.

The jury convicted Joon Woo Baik, 24, of the second-degree felony charge after about a day and a half of deliberations. Baik was acquitted of rape, simple assault and false imprisonment.

Pittsburgh police responded to a Morewood Avenue apartment building Sept. 22 after a resident called to report he’d heard a woman screaming in a nearby apartment, according to the criminal complaint. The caller said he knocked on the door and a naked woman ran outside screaming.

The Tribune-Review does not identify victims of alleged sex crimes.

The woman told police she’d been drinking with Baik, who “poured her drink after drink” while he drank much slower, according to the complaint. She said the two sat on the couch to watch a movie and the next thing she recalled was running from the apartment and screaming.

She told police she was too drunk to consent to sexual activity, according to the complaint.

Baik told police the woman had consented to the sexual activity, and he’d recorded it on his phone “in case something like this happened,” according to the complaint. Asked to elaborate, Baik then said he didn’t know what he meant and he’d done it because he was drunk, according to police.

According to the complaint, Baik had injuries to his face and repeatedly changed his statements to police, including various stories as to how the woman sustained marks and injuries to her neck. Police wrote that Baik showed signs of deception throughout his interview.

Police reviewed the audio recording, during which the woman can be heard having difficulty making coherent statements, investigators said. What does come through, police wrote in the complaint, is the woman repeatedly revoking her consent, saying “stop,” “get off” and “I want to go home.”

Sentencing is scheduled for July 29 in front of Common Pleas Judge Alexander Bicket.