SLIPPERY ROCK — A borough man is headed for trial on charges he raped a woman who apparently was passed out drunk.

But the victim did not remember what happened and the defendant, 51-year-old Michael D. Bice, told Slippery Rock police that the sex was consensual, according to testimony at a preliminary hearing Wednesday.

District Judge Bill O'Donnell ordered Bice, who was arrested June 2, held for court on felony charges of rape of an unconscious person, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse of an unconscious person and two counts of aggravated indecent assault.

Afterward, he was returned to Butler County Prison on $25,000 bond — which O'Donnell lowered upon a request by Bice's attorney from $100,000 — with house arrest and other conditions.

Police officer Derek Dickey, who was the lone witness to testify at the hearing, said he was called May 23 to an apartment complex after a neighbor there reported hearing the victim crying for help. The cries were coming from the victim's apartment.

The neighbor told Dickey she had earlier seen Bice and another man arrive at the victim's home. She recounted that the victim appeared “highly intoxicated.”

When the neighbor went to check on the victim, she opened the apartment door and saw the victim and defendant in the downstairs living room.

“She stated she observed (the victim) laying on the floor and half undressed,” Dickey testified. The neighbor said ”it appeared that (the victim) was passed out and it looked like (Bice) took her clothes off.”

But on cross-examination, Bice's attorney, Lyle Dresbold of Pittsburgh, asked Dickey why the neighbor believed the defendant had taken off her clothes.

“I don't have an answer for that,” the officer said, “other than she believed (the victim) was unconscious.”

Dickey told prosecutor David Beichner, a county assistant district attorney, that according to the neighbor's account, Bice slammed the door.

The neighbor left, but about 20 minutes later she heard the victim yelling, “No. No. No. Help me,” the officer testified. When she tried opening the door, the neighbor recalled it was locked this time.

Later, Dickey got to the victim's apartment and found her upstairs in bed, naked from the waist down. He awakened her, and she appeared to be “highly intoxicated” and confused.

“When I informed (her) that her neighbor had heard her calling for help,” Dickey said, “she stated she didn't remember doing that.”

She did, however, remember being at the defendant's home earlier with the other man, and having about two beers and “a sip of moonshine.”

The other man later told police they all had been drinking and that he and Bice subsequently brought the victim home. He said when he left, Bice locked the door.

Dickey said the other man told police that he didn't know what happened after he left.

The victim was eventually taken to Butler Memorial Hospital for evaluation. A rape kit also was performed, and a sample was recovered of an unknown fluid. That fluid has not been tested, Dickey said.

The hospital examination also found bruising on the victim's arms and legs.

Police took Bice to the station for an interview. He was described as being intoxicated. He acknowledged he heard the victim repeatedly say “no,” but he “insisted (the victim) was referring to an incident related to her ex-husband,” Dickey said.

Bice denied he ever heard the woman call for help.

“When I asked him if he had sexual contact with (the victim),” the officer said, “he stated we were buddies, we hang out and we (expletive).”

Police conducted a recorded interview with the victim May 27.

“She stated that she has no recollection of anything,” Dickey said, from the time she was drinking at Bice's home to when police awakened her the night of the alleged incident.

But, the officer testified, she stated “she knows that something happened because her genitals were sore for two or three days following the incident.”

She also stated that she would never have consented to sex with the defendant, Dickey said, telling police she “had never been romantically or sexually involved with Bice.”

In his closing argument, Dresbold asked O'Donnell to dismiss the entire case, citing a lack of physical evidence.

“There's a corpus delicti issue here,” he said, “in that no one observed a crime and the victim can't tell us that a crime (occurred).”

He added, “Without (Bice's) drunken braggadocio, there's no case here.”

Beichner, in his counter argument, pointed to the “totality of the circumstances,” which included Bice being at the victim's apartment, the victim calling for help, the neighbor seeing the defendant next to the victim in a state of undress and the fluid collected during the rape kit.

“In addition to all those things,” Beichner said, “you have the defendant's statement where he admitted he had sex with the victim.”