Guilty verdict rendered in 2015 rape case

Tyreak Alexander Speed

A Liberty man has been arrested and charged in connection with a rape that occurred at a private residence in Maryville in March 2015 was found guilty Thursday evening following a jury trial in Nodaway County Circuit Court.

Defendant Tyreak Alexander Speed, 25, stands convicted of second-degree rape. The Class C felony carries a maximum sentence of seven years in prison and/or a fine of up to $5,000.

The jury deliberated for nearly two and a half hours following attorneys’ closing arguments before returning the verdict to Presiding Circuit Judge Roger Prokes.

Speed was arrested after Maryville Public Safety officers investigated the assault, which occurred in the early morning hours of Sunday, March 15, at a residence in the 700 block of North Mulberry Street.

The victim was described as a 19-year-old Maryville resident who reportedly met the suspect earlier in the night at a “separate social gathering at another location.”

According to court documents, the victim, after consuming an intoxicating substance, fell asleep and awoke to find a man having sex with her. She told police she told the man to stop, but that he refused to do so.

The victim, who later identified Speed by picking him out of a photo lineup, said she met the man the night of the attack at the Delta Sigma Phi fraternity house at 622 N. Walnut St. in Maryville. Speed was not a member of their fraternity.

Nodaway County Prosecuting Attorney Robert Rice also charged Speed with felony rape in the first degree, which carries a sentencing range of five years to life in prison. However, the jury elected to convict the defendant solely on the alternatively filed lesser charge.

Prokes scheduled sentencing in the case for Monday, March 20. Rice said he plans to request that Speed serve the maximum sentence of seven years in a state Department of Corrections prison.