Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Defense Calls Woman in Kidnaping a ‘Willing Companion’ : Courts: Attorney for Timothy Daniel Shue alleges realtor concocted tale of abduction, rape. Prosecutor tells jurors of victim’s terror during two-day ordeal.

Defense attorneys for a man accused of kidnaping a Santa Clarita Valley real estate agent for two terrifying days told a federal jury on Tuesday that the alleged victim had really been a “willing companion” eager to teach her husband a lesson.

Defendant Timothy Daniel Shue had no idea when he met alleged victim Paula Harrington that “she was in an unhappy marriage with a husband who never came home--and that she’d let him know what that felt like,” said Deputy Federal Public Defender Neison M. Marks.

On the opening day of Shue’s trial in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, Marks said Harrington’s only misgivings about their fling across California and Arizona arose when Shue told her he was on parole.

And it was a remorseful Harrington who then concocted a tale of abduction and rape to save her reputation, Marks told the jury, adding that the Century 21 saleswoman forced Shue to play along and tie her up by threatening to turn him in to police.

Shue, 38, is being held without bail on charges of kidnaping Harrington June 29 as she showed him houses for sale in Val Verde and threatening her with a gun during a two-day drive to Arizona. If convicted, he could face life in prison without parole.

A Michigan native and convicted robber, Shue’s alleged abduction of Harrington culminated what authorities say was a two-month odyssey of rape, robbery and brutality. The case is being tried in federal court because it crosses state lines.

Before Marks’ opening statements, Assistant U.S. Atty. Daniel P. Collins outlined for the jury what appeared to be an open-and-shut case against Shue: Harrington survived the ordeal to identify him as her kidnaper and rapist; Shue’s fingerprint was lifted from the Gila Bend, Ariz., motel room where Harrington was found bound and gagged, and Shue gave FBI agents a detailed confession after his arrest at a bar in Utah.

Harrington endured “a nightmare,” Collins said, in which Shue constantly threatened the 27-year-old woman with a gun, forced her to withdraw cash with her ATM card, and to have sex with him in two motel rooms.

With his handgun never far from reach, Shue forced Harrington to pose for him in fishnet stockings and drink champagne, and to perform oral sex as well as intercourse, Collins told the jury. At one point, he joined her in the shower with his gun in his hand.

“This frightened her a great deal,” Collins said, “because she was afraid he’d shoot her and let her blood wash down the drain like she’d seen in movies.”

As Collins spoke, the pale, balding Shue smiled and occasionally laughed, took notes and whispered with his attorneys.

Marks urged the jurors to be skeptical of Harrington’s testimony, and to also look askance at an unsigned, unrecorded confession he said was taken while Shue was under the influence of beer, tequila and marijuana.

Marks also noted the absence of rape charges against Shue, telling the jurors there was no medical evidence of forced sex because Harrington had been a consenting partner and resisted medical treatment.

Several of Harrington’s friends and relatives were present in court and seemed upset by the defense’s case. But they declined to comment. “I don’t think we dare,” said one woman.

The trial was to continue today.