Sledge rape trial ends in hung jury; new trial set for next month

Related Photos

DAVID LE/Staff photo Suspended Lawrence police Officer Kevin Sledge waits for the jury to deliver its verdict in Salem District Court yesterday following almost two days of deliberations. He was cleared of a kidnapping charge, but the jury deadlocked on rape and indecent assault counts.

Discussion

Welcome to our online comments feature. To join the discussion, you must first register with Disqus and verify your email address. Once you do, your comments will post automatically. We welcome your thoughts and your opinions, including unpopular ones. We ask only that you keep the conversation civil and clean. We reserve the right to remove comments that are obscene, racist or abusive and statements that are false or unverifiable. Repeat offenders will be blocked. You may flag objectionable comments for review by a moderator.

comments powered by Disqus

September 9, 2010

By Bill Kirk bkirk@eagletribune.com The Eagle Tribune Thu Sep 09, 2010, 02:28 AM EDT

SALEM — The trial of suspended Lawrence police Officer Kevin Sledge ended with a hung jury unable to decide whether the veteran officer raped and fondled a 23-year-old New Hampshire woman who was passed out in his car outside the police station on the morning of Sept. 26, 2008.

The 12-person jury was able to determine that Sledge, 48, of Salem, N.H., was not guilty of kidnapping, one of five charges against him. But they were deadlocked at 11-1 on the rape and three indecent assault charges. A new trial date has been set for Oct. 7.

The mother of the woman who accused Sledge said outside the courthouse that she and her daughter were upset about the outcome of the trial.

"Eleven jurors believed her," the mother said, adding that her daughter will push ahead with a second trial. "She's not going to stop till this scumbag police officer, who is supposed to protect people, is off the street. He'll never get a chance to do this to another person."

The Eagle-Tribune does not identify the accusers or their family members in sex-related cases.

The woman said she was told by a court employee that the jury was deadlocked at 11-1 in favor of convicting Sledge.

Sledge's court-appointed attorney, John Morris, said he was happy that his client was found not guilty on the kidnapping charge, but said "it would have been better if it was all not guilty."

Morris said there is no way to know whether the vote was 11-1 in favor of convicting his client or in favor of acquittal because the votes of a jury are confidential.

"One of them or 11 of them agreed with me," he said, adding that there was no physical evidence connecting his client to the woman. He said fibers found inside the woman's underpants were from another source.

"None of the fibers matched him or her," he said. "They couldn't match it."

Neither Sledge nor the half-dozen family members there to support him would comment to The Eagle-Tribune. Assistant District Attorney Kate MacDougall could not be reached for comment but had declined to comment to the media throughout the trial.

Yesterday marked the second day of deliberations for the jury following a four-day trial last week. Yesterday afternoon, just after their lunch break, jurors reconvened before Judge Howard Whitehead to ask what they should do about being deadlocked at 11-1. Whitehead read what is known as the Rodriguez charge, which urges jurors to go back and try again to reach a unanimous decision.

At about 3:55 p.m., just before the close of court for the day, the jury sent a note to the judge saying they were "unable to reach a unanimous decision regardless of further discussion." The judge sent a message back to the jurors asking if the deadlock applied to all five charges. They replied that the deadlock was on four of the charges, but that they had reached agreement on the kidnapping charge.

When the jury reconvened, the jury foreman announced the not guilty verdict on kidnapping. That count was discharged by the court. However, a new trial date was set on the remaining four charges, including rape and three counts of indecent sexual assault.

The accuser's mother, said that while she and her daughter never expected the kidnapping charge to hold up, the rape and indecent assault charges are "the facts of what he did to her. He was using his authority" to take advantage of her daughter, who was admittedly drunk at the time after celebrating her 23rd birthday by visiting various bars and nightclubs in Lawrence.

At some point during the evening, she became separated from her friends and got into a van with three strange men. They drove around the city before ending up at a restaurant in Lawrence, where she encountered Sledge. According to Morris, the police officer had left the station in his personal car to grab something to eat when he saw that the woman was inebriated and in potential danger because she was with three strange men.

The woman got into his car, a Jaguar, and he drove her back to the police station. While she remained in the car, he went inside to tend to his duties but throughout the evening repeatedly left his post to go back to the car. Morris said it was to check on the woman's well-being, while MacDougall said he had more sinister motives in mind.

In particular, Sledge was accused of fondling the woman's buttocks, climbing on top of her, and placing his hands inside her underpants.

Eventually, the woman's friend, Regina Perry of Pelham, N.H., was called to pick up her friend and when she arrived and realized what had happened, they went inside the police station to report the alleged sexual assault.

Sledge will remain on unpaid suspension as the criminal case continues, police Chief John Romero said last night.

Once the criminal case is concluded, the department's internal affairs unit will look into departmental charges against Sledge, such as why he drove his personal car to get food while he was on duty and why he was driving a woman around in his personal car while on duty.

Perry, who testified on her friend's behalf during the trial, vowed to help during the next trial.

"We'll be back," she said. "He's not going to get away with it. I'm sticking up for my friend, and she's sticking up for herself."