By Joe Johnson
A man has been acquitted of charges he raped a woman over four years ago in bar he owned in downtown Athens.
Following testimony presented over the course of a week during a trial in Clarke County Superior Court, a jury found 42-year-old David Ellis Ippisch not guilty on one count each of rape and kidnapping.
According to court documents and police records, Ippisch was accused by a 21-year-old woman of raping her on Nov. 25 2019 at The Hedges on Broad, one of two bars Ippisch owned on East Broad Street.
The rape was alleged to have occurred on the concert stage at Hedges while a DJ played music and hundreds of people gathered below for dancing and drinking. The assault, according to the woman, occurred behind a curtain on stage where she alleged Ippisch plied her with "shots" of alcohol.
Defense attorneys concurred that their client had sex with the woman in the bar, but argued that it was consensual.
The Hedges and 100 Proof bars that Ippisch had owned went out of business after his arrest.
Prior to the trial, Judge Eric Norris barred the testimony of three witnesses who claimed to have been sexually assaulted by Ippisch, ruling that the testimony would have been unduly prejudicial against the bar owner.