Former UMass student guilty of rape

NORTHAMPTON — A jury convicted a former University of Massachusetts student on Monday of rape in connection with an assault that occurred in a campus dorm room in 2017.

Ryder Chilcoff, 25, of Villa Park, California, was found guilty of a single count of rape after a six-day trial.

The woman Chilcoff was convicted of raping went out drinking on Dec. 8, 2017, and mistakenly wandered into Chilcoff’s room one floor above her room in a high-rise dorm in the early morning hours of Dec. 9. Once there, she fell asleep in his bed, after which the assault occurred, according to the Northwestern district attorney’s office.

Prosecutors said the case centered on the legal concept of incapacity to consent to sexual intercourse.

Chilcoff’s defense attorney Alan Jackson of Los Angeles asserted that what occurred between Chilcoff and the woman was consensual and that being intoxicated to the point of “blackout” does not mean an individual can’t consent to sex, according to a statement issued by the DA’s office.

Chilcoff is set to be sentenced in Hampshire Superior Court by Judge Richard Carey on Tuesday, and he faces a sentence of up to 20 years in prison and registration as a sex offender.