UPDATE

The felony charge of rape filed against Meridian resident Brandt Hulet Goff has been dismissed, though Goff has agreed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge of battery.

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ORIGINAL STORY

KETCHUM — A Meridian man has been charged with felony rape after allegedly raping his wife in a room at a hotel in Ketchum, where the couple were staying to view a televised religious conference.

The charge against Brandt Hulet Goff, 27, was filed in Blaine County on Jan. 18, and a warrant for his arrest was issued the same day. Goff was arrested in Ada County on Feb. 8 and released on $10,000 bail Feb. 12. He was arraigned on the charge in Blaine County Magistrate Court on Monday morning. A preliminary hearing, at which prosecutors must show that they have evidence that the alleged crime is a felony, is scheduled for April 4.

Goff is charged with one count of felony rape under Idaho Code 18-6101(4) — rape in which a victim resists but resistance is overcome by force or violence, which carries a maximum penalty of life in prison and a minimum of one year, according to the Idaho Mountain Express.

According to a probable-cause affidavit for Goff’s arrest written by Blaine County Sheriff’s Detective Steve Hansen, on Nov. 21, 2017, he was notified of a delayed report of a rape alleged to have occurred at a downtown hotel on April 1, 2017.

The alleged victim, a woman, reported that she and Goff, to whom she was married but is now divorcing, were staying at the hotel to view the televised broadcast of the yearly General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints, Hansen wrote. The woman said that after the broadcast concluded around 4 p.m. on April 1, Goff repeatedly attempted to initiate sex with her as the two sat on the hotel room’s bed, but she said “no” and “stop” at least five times, Hansen wrote.

According to the affidavit, the woman reported that she was fearful of Goff because of daily fights since they married, and she feared for her life and escaped their residence through a window during one fight.

Hanson wrote that the woman reported that she verbally denied consent, but did not physically resist Goff as he forcibly removed her pants and initiated sex with her, because she was fearful of “what would he do if I didn’t?”

According to the affidavit, Hansen and other officers observed text messages on the woman’s phone, exchanged during the months after the alleged incident, wherein Goff repeatedly apologized for “what I’ve done wrong” and “the time in Sun Valley, where I pretty much forced my way.”

However, in other messages to the woman, Hansen wrote, Goff said he forced sex because of stress he felt about their marriage disintegrating, and in at least one message, he apologized for a later in-person encounter in which, according to the woman, Goff blamed her for the incident because she didn’t lock herself in the bathroom to prevent Goff from forcing sex.

In an interview with police at his job site in Nampa, Hansen wrote, Goff denied forcibly undressing or initiating sex with his wife during their stay in Ketchum on April 1, and he said that he later sent text messages based on his wife’s version of events because he wanted an amicable divorce that avoided a trial.

This article was originally published in the Idaho Mountain Express. It is used here with permission.