Prosecutors were handicapped in their attempt to convict Gipe by a complete lack of physical evidence. According to his accuser, Gipe, after an evening of drinking and taking pain pills, climbed atop her as she slept on a futon in the recreation room.

The same jury also found Gipe not guilty of indecent assault and corruption of a minor in an unrelated case where he was accused of molesting another of his daughter's friends during a camping trip to Mountain Creek in Adams County in April 1999.

In his opening argument for the rape case, first deputy district attorney Edward A. Paskey told the jury that Gipe had "taken advantage of trust and vulnerability." In his closing argument, senior prosecutor Andrew Lehman of the district attorney's Crimes Against Children Unit, asked the jury of the rape victim, "Where is her motive to lie?"