Former Hopkinton Deputy Police Chief Jay Porter (back to camera) waits as Judge Michael Pineault runs the trial Wednesday assisted by a court clerk. PHOTO/MARY ELLEN GAMBON

The first day of testimony in the trial of former Hopkinton Police Deputy Chief John Porter focused on the 35-year-old woman who accused him of raping her three times when she was a Hopkinton High School sophomore two decades ago.

Before the alleged survivor gave her testimony over several hours, prosecutor Maren Schrader described the case as being about “a man in power taking advantage of a 15-year-old.” Schrader characterized her as a troubled youth who would “act out or go missing.” As a result, she was placed on an individual education plan (IEP), which is how she became connected with Porter, the school resource officer.

Defense attorney Maura Tansley took a different view.

“John Porter is charged with some of the most horrifying acts that someone can be charged with,“ she said. “I suggest that you will have more questions than answers at the end of this trial.”

Accuser describes relationship

The alleged survivor, dressed in a black blazer, black top and flowing black pants, described her background. The mother of two children, she is a nurse at a Boston hospital. Her interest in this profession, she said, stemmed from her years of volunteering and working for a day care center.

She said she struggled with “a lot of social anxiety and depression” in middle school. She did not have a close relationship with her parents or siblings until later in life. At Hopkinton Middle School, she received support from an adjustment counselor and a school resource officer named David Shane. Shane was her fifth-grade instructor in the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) program. She said she first met Porter when he substituted for Shane, letting students use goggles that simulated the visual effects of drunkenness while he threw tennis balls at them.

At Hopkinton High School, she realized her relationship with her parents “probably wouldn’t get any better.” Her parents and educators developed an IEP that she said provided “more structured instruction about what to do with me and how to respond to me” during her emotional outbursts. Included in the IEP’s development were her adjustment counselor, her special education teacher, school administrators and teachers.

Porter, as the school resource officer (SRO), was part of that team. He would counsel her in his office frequently.

“I was seeking him out,” she said. “He also provided me with the validation I was seeking.”

This became a “point of issue” in her IEP, she said.

She added: “I was lucky to have him at least tolerate me. Jay helped me just by being present. But he wasn’t the appropriate person to seek out.”

Assault alleged in church parking lot

The woman described herself as having lacked self-confidence, which she later said Porter manipulated to sexually assault her.

She recalled an incident near the end of her freshman year when her educators were afraid she would harm herself, prompting the school to call an ambulance for her. Porter accompanied her in the ambulance.

“My mother was not allowed to drive me,” she said. “[School personnel] feared I would jump out of the car, hurt myself or hurt her.”

Because of this incident, she said she was not allowed back at HHS for the remainder of her freshman year. Instead, she attended “outpatient school placement,” seeking a school that would be a good fit.

At that point, she and Porter began emailing each other “because I did not see him as much as I would have liked.”

When she expressed a desire to return to HHS, she said Porter helped develop a trial readmission program “with very specific conditions and behavioral plans.” This program included a “point system,” she explained.

She would receive points for staying in or participating in class and related activities. When she earned enough points, “the reward would be a visit to Jay Porter’s office during a study period.” She remembered the visit costing “like 380 points.”

On Sept. 13, 2004, their relationship escalated to their first sexual encounter, she said. She explained that she could not handle being in school that day and called her mother for permission to leave. She planned on walking home, but Porter offered to drive her. He said he needed to go to the police station before he took her home, she said.

The accuser said Porter told her to get in the front seat of the police cruiser.

“It was very odd to me,” she said. “He actually dropped me off at the edge of the police station and told me to wait up the road.”

When he returned for her, she said, Porter was driving a purple minivan with bucket seats and was dressed in a red shirt and jeans. He drove her to a nearby church parking lot and parked near the trees.

The accuser gave a graphic account of the encounter. She described how Porter kissed and fondled her. Her shirt and bra remained on but were pushed up.

“I can’t say that I knew what was happening,” she said. “I unbuckled his belt.”

She said he then unbuttoned her pants.

She described how Porter penetrated her with his finger. He then tried to have sexual intercourse with her twice, she said, but was unsuccessful.

“I got the impression that he was annoyed,” she said. “I thought that I had done something wrong.”

On the ride to her home, “he instructed me not to talk about this because he could be in big trouble.”

She added: “I would say that I was obsessed with him.”

The alleged survivor said he cut off contact with her, prompting her to leave letters of apology under his door.

Near the end of the school year, she said, Porter told her that he was being promoted to a detective role and no longer would be her SRO. He introduced her to his replacement, Tim Brennan.

Babysitting offered as incentive

Porter gave her “an incentive” as he was departing, she said.

“I could babysit for him if I had good behavior,” she explained. “He wanted to make sure that I knew that I was worthless. He would tell me I would never be able to babysit for his kids, laugh at me, mock me.”

However, Porter allegedly did ask her to babysit for him in early June.. He drove her to his home, where she spoke briefly with Porter’s wife. They were going to a Boston Red Sox game with relatives, she explained.

“He drove me home in his truck,” she said. “It had a bench seat. You could slide across it if you wanted to.”

“I had moved close to him so that he could put his arm around me in some manner,” she continued. She said Porter allegedly touched her breasts and digitally penetrated her.

While Porter was driving near the Hopkinton/Milford line, she said she leaned over and “started to perform oral sex on him.”

She said Porter kept saying, “This is wrong, should we be doing this?” She described “kind of the internal conflict.”

Alleged encounter on 18th birthday

The two had  “infrequent contact” once Porter left the SRO position, the accuser said, but they would text and email each other. She said she was instructed by Porter to delete the communications. In September 2007, she said Porter called to ask about her upcoming birthday.

“He was happy I was going to college,” she said. “I was happy to express how proud I was of myself for going to school.”

She said Porter took her to Longhorn Steakhouse at Landmark Center in Boston. When he drove her back to her dorm, she said, he wanted to visit her room but was concerned about the security guard.

“I told him that he could just pretend he was my dad,” she said. “He was not happy with that.”

Communication stops in 2014

The accuser said that contact with Porter stopped in 2014, a couple of months before she became pregnant with her first child. She gave the father’s name, which was not Porter.

“That stopped all communication, once I was pregnant,” she said.

She clarified that Porter did not block her Instagram account until “yesterday.”

Brennan emerges as support system

The accuser said that while she was at HHS, Brennan had a different SRO style from Porter. He was friendly but did not have a “point system” or allow office visits.

“I did start babysitting for him in high school,” she said. “But his wife would reach out to me.”

After she graduated from high school, the two occasionally would meet for a meal at what was then called the Golden Spoon on Lumber Street.

She said: “He was always positive about me making something positive out of myself.”

After she became pregnant, she said Brennan asked her “about any relationship that [Porter and she] may have had.”

She said she told him in 2014 about the alleged incidents with Porter.

Judge Michael Pineault told the jury that this is known legally as “the first complaint.”

When asked by Schrader why she didn’t tell anyone about the situation beforehand, the alleged survivor said, “I was petrified that no one would believe me.”

She added: “[Porter] was a cop, so why would anyone believe me?”

While she said Brennan encouraged her to report the incidents, she told him, “Absolutely not.”

That changed in 2022, when she approached the Middlesex County District Attorney’s Office.

Cross examination began after 2 p.m. but was halted because the text provided to the judge and the attorneys did not have corresponding page numbers. The examination was to continue Thursday morning.