The jury will decide whether a video showing two men having sex included a 15-year-old who has testified he didn’t remember the event.

Wood County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Morgan Spitler outlined the state’s case against Zachary Gibson, who faces 21 charges including sexual offenses and supplying alcohol to a minor.

Gibson, 32, admitted one of the men in the video was him but that the second person was not the juvenile named in the indictment.

Gibson’s jury trial concluded this afternoon with closing arguments. He faces numerous charges, including rape, sexual battery, pandering, importuning and furnishing alcohol to minors.

Elements are similar to ingredients in a recipe – you need each ingredient, Spitler said. Similarly, the state must prove each element of an offense for you to return findings of guilt, she said to the jury.

She went through and explained each charge, including sexual battery, illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material, rape, pandering and disseminating matter harmful to juveniles, and importuning.

Gibson admitted on the stand that he provided alcohol to the alleged rape victim, and he provided a “safe space for these boys,” Spitler said.

Both the alleged victim and his mother testified he had a birthmark on his buttock, which was visible in the videos, and that he stayed at Gibson’s the evening of July 2-3, 2021.

“You watched those videos and you saw (the alleged victim) watch those videos and identify himself” based on his clothing and birthmark, Spitler said.

“He watched those videos and told you it was him. He also testified he didn’t remember,” she said.

Gibson has admitted there may have been jokes about sending inappropriate texts, that he provided alcohol to minors, that he sent a text requesting oral sex in return for steroids, she said.

“Mr. Gibson is presumed innocent until his guilt is established beyond a reasonable doubt,” said defense attorney Sara Roller.

She highlighted what was known and some of the things not known.

Data pulled off Gibson’s phone included 15,330 photos and 3,386 videos including six from July 2-3, 2021.

No inappropriate photo allegedly requested by Gibson and sent by a Bowling Green High School student wasn’t among those found on his phone, she said.

He admitted to sending a text message asking for oral sex, but said it was a joke, she said.

She also questioned conflicting dates given by the alleged rape victim and his mother about when the juvenile started training with Gibson.

“If someone tells something not true about the little things, are they telling something not true about the big things,” Roller said.

We know Gibson furnished alcohol to juveniles, but he has denied having a juvenile at his apartment on July 2-3, 2021, when the alleged rape occurred, she said.

Photos prove the juvenile worked out a Fastrack Performance on July2, then he and Gibson went to a restaurant in Maumee. Wouldn’t it be more efficient to get food in Bowling Green if they were staying at Gibson’s apartment, she asked.

Data taken from all phones show no proof the juvenile was in Bowling Green that night.

“This isn’t a whole person in the video,” she said. There is no face and no proof the person is unconscious – all there is is a butt.

The state ignored that Gibson was on the Grindr app the same night as the alleged rape in order to focus on their theory and “ignoring other explanations and other pieces of evidence,” she said.

“You don’t throw your reason and common sense out the window when you’re on a jury,” she said.

How do we know it was the alleged victim in those videos, asked Wood County Assistant Prosecutor Charles McDonald.

Gibson’s cell phone, the birthmark “and your common sense,” he said.

Don’t fall for the semantics, focus on the evidence, he said, and added both juveniles would have to be lying, and why would they do that.

What are the chances of random hookup with someone with the same birthmark, or of two juveniles lying to police, investigators and while on the stand, he said.

“If it sounds preposterous folks, it probably is,” he said.

“The clear evidence is not that he’s unlucky but that he is a child sexual predator,” McDonald said about Gibson.

The jury began deliberations at 3:10.