• ROB SCHULTZ rschultz@madison.com, 608-252-6487
A judge dismissed a rape charge against a Fond du Lac man accused of assaulting a woman on the UW-Madison campus last year after the prosecutor admitted that key elements of the case were weak.
A second-degree sexual assault charge against Amory J. Waters, 22, was dismissed by Dane County Circuit Judge Stephen Ehlke at the request of Deputy District Attorney Corey Stephan. At a hearing Thursday, Stephan told Ehlke that the case hinged on identifying Waters and the woman in a 2.5-second video that was so poor he wasn’t sure he could identify the victim in it.
Stephan also told Ehlke that the actions of the individuals in the video didn’t match the woman’s statement, two DNA samples found on her clothes were not from Waters, and a statement by Waters initially characterized as an admission of guilt was actually a concession.
“I have come to the conclusion that we cannot prove this case beyond a reasonable doubt. I think if I try this case five out of five times, I think I lose it five out of five times and would be, frankly, surprised if I won it once,” Stephan told Ehlke.
Waters, who is not a student, was accused of raping the woman in the early morning hours of Aug. 22, 2014, in an alley alongside a parking ramp between the 10 block of North Park Street and East Campus Mall. Waters was arrested by UW-Madison police after a voluntary interview, according to his attorney, Chris Van Wagner.
A criminal complaint said Waters was identified by the clothing he was wearing and was seen in the area on traffic cameras.
But Van Wagner said there was no evidence connecting Waters to the woman, especially after the woman began having trouble remembering much from the incident in recent weeks.
“They used his shoes that were spotted in a video (as evidence) and his loss of memory as corroboration, until we demanded a trial,” Van Wagner said.
According to the criminal complaint, the woman told police she was raped by a man she did not know but that the man knew her name and told her, “It’s OK, (victim’s name), I know you.” But investigators found no evidence that Waters and the woman knew each other, Van Wagner said.
Investigators were still waiting for results of DNA testing when the criminal complaint was issued, but Stephan told Ehlke that evidence found on one of the shirts the woman was wearing was connected to two men and not to Waters. He also told Ehlke that another shirt the woman was wearing was given back to her by accident after her medical examination and she laundered it before DNA evidence could be taken from it.
The criminal complaint also said that police used traffic camera footage to spot a man fitting the description of the assailant walking south on North Lake Street from Langdon Street about 1:17 a.m. It said that video showed the woman leaving Wando’s, 602 University Ave., around the same time and she was near her assailant at the time he crossed University Avenue.
But the video was grainy and showed only the lower legs of the woman and the pants and shoes of the man fitting the assailant’s description, Stephan said. That made it difficult to positively identify the woman in the video or prove that the shoes worn by the assailant in the video were the same shoes found at Waters’ apartment, he added.
“It ultimately all came down to that identification of the shoes,” Stephan told Ehlke.
The criminal complaint said after Waters identified himself in a photo sitting at a bar at the Kollege Klub, he got emotional during the police interview and said that if the police had proof, then he must have done it. He said he couldn’t remember anything about that night after playing a drinking game at another bar earlier in the evening.
But after watching tape of the interview, Stephan said Waters didn’t know what he was being accused of and made a weak admission at best.
“So I think ultimately, that admission would not carry the day in court, particularly considering the dearth of other corroborating evidence,” he added.
Waters’ mother, Renee Waters, of Fond du Lac, said her son never should have been arrested.
“If this could happen to my son, who is innocent, where there was no evidence proving otherwise yet we needed to spend $40,000 for a lawyer to help him, what’s happening to (other) kids who can’t afford $40,000 for a lawyer?” she asked.
Monday, October 12, 2015
can you imagine
• ROB SCHULTZ rschultz@madison.com, 608-252-6487
A judge dismissed a rape charge against a Fond du Lac man accused of assaulting a woman on the UW-Madison campus last year after the prosecutor admitted that key elements of the case were weak.
A second-degree sexual assault charge against Amory J. Waters, 22, was dismissed by Dane County Circuit Judge Stephen Ehlke at the request of Deputy District Attorney Corey Stephan. At a hearing Thursday, Stephan told Ehlke that the case hinged on identifying Waters and the woman in a 2.5-second video that was so poor he wasn’t sure he could identify the victim in it.
Stephan also told Ehlke that the actions of the individuals in the video didn’t match the woman’s statement, two DNA samples found on her clothes were not from Waters, and a statement by Waters initially characterized as an admission of guilt was actually a concession.
“I have come to the conclusion that we cannot prove this case beyond a reasonable doubt. I think if I try this case five out of five times, I think I lose it five out of five times and would be, frankly, surprised if I won it once,” Stephan told Ehlke.
Waters, who is not a student, was accused of raping the woman in the early morning hours of Aug. 22, 2014, in an alley alongside a parking ramp between the 10 block of North Park Street and East Campus Mall. Waters was arrested by UW-Madison police after a voluntary interview, according to his attorney, Chris Van Wagner.
A criminal complaint said Waters was identified by the clothing he was wearing and was seen in the area on traffic cameras.
But Van Wagner said there was no evidence connecting Waters to the woman, especially after the woman began having trouble remembering much from the incident in recent weeks.
“They used his shoes that were spotted in a video (as evidence) and his loss of memory as corroboration, until we demanded a trial,” Van Wagner said.
According to the criminal complaint, the woman told police she was raped by a man she did not know but that the man knew her name and told her, “It’s OK, (victim’s name), I know you.” But investigators found no evidence that Waters and the woman knew each other, Van Wagner said.
Investigators were still waiting for results of DNA testing when the criminal complaint was issued, but Stephan told Ehlke that evidence found on one of the shirts the woman was wearing was connected to two men and not to Waters. He also told Ehlke that another shirt the woman was wearing was given back to her by accident after her medical examination and she laundered it before DNA evidence could be taken from it.
The criminal complaint also said that police used traffic camera footage to spot a man fitting the description of the assailant walking south on North Lake Street from Langdon Street about 1:17 a.m. It said that video showed the woman leaving Wando’s, 602 University Ave., around the same time and she was near her assailant at the time he crossed University Avenue.
But the video was grainy and showed only the lower legs of the woman and the pants and shoes of the man fitting the assailant’s description, Stephan said. That made it difficult to positively identify the woman in the video or prove that the shoes worn by the assailant in the video were the same shoes found at Waters’ apartment, he added.
“It ultimately all came down to that identification of the shoes,” Stephan told Ehlke.
The criminal complaint said after Waters identified himself in a photo sitting at a bar at the Kollege Klub, he got emotional during the police interview and said that if the police had proof, then he must have done it. He said he couldn’t remember anything about that night after playing a drinking game at another bar earlier in the evening.
But after watching tape of the interview, Stephan said Waters didn’t know what he was being accused of and made a weak admission at best.
“So I think ultimately, that admission would not carry the day in court, particularly considering the dearth of other corroborating evidence,” he added.
Waters’ mother, Renee Waters, of Fond du Lac, said her son never should have been arrested.
“If this could happen to my son, who is innocent, where there was no evidence proving otherwise yet we needed to spend $40,000 for a lawyer to help him, what’s happening to (other) kids who can’t afford $40,000 for a lawyer?” she asked.
