ST. ANTHONY — After being found guilty, Jacob Oberg lashed out in a profanity-filled tirade late Wednesday night and demanded District Judge Darren B. Simpson sentence him immediately.
“I want to be sentenced now!” Oberg yelled in court.
“I can not sentence you now,” Simpson responded. “Mr. Oberg, before I can sentence you, this court has an obligation to obtain a pre-sentence investigation.”
Oberg interrupted, “Bull f***** s***,” mocked the judge and cursed for nearly a minute until he was ordered out of the Fremont County courtroom.
Oberg’s outburst was the latest occurrence in a bizarre case that has lasted over 18 months.
‘Our minds foggy’
The Utah man was arrested in September 2017 and charged with the rape of a 24-year-old female family member that occurred during a camping trip in Island Park.
A trial held last October ended with a hung jury, so this was the second time Oberg’s case was heard in district court.
The trial began Tuesday and concluded after a 14-hour day in court Wednesday. The jury deliberated over five hours and notified the judge of their decision around 10:15 p.m.
During the trial, Fremont County Prosecuting Attorney Marcia Murdoch outlined the victim’s account of the rape after she had been drugged.
Murdoch summarized testimony from an inmate who said Oberg confessed to the crime while the two were in jail together. According to the testimony, Oberg placed the antipsychotic drug Seroquel in the victim’s beer, and both of them were smoking marijuana before the incident.
In a letter Oberg sent to EastIdahoNews.com two weeks before the trial, he admitted to having sex with the family member but claimed it was consensual and that “we were both drunk and our minds foggy.”
