By TAMMIE TOLER
Princeton Times
May 02, 2008 10:53 am
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PRINCETON — West Virginia’s highest court reversed a Princeton woman’s sexual assault conviction and ordered the case back to Mercer County for a retrial.
In a decision filed Friday, the state Supreme Court of Appeals reversed Mindy Keesecker’s 2006 conviction on six counts of third-degree sexual assault. Though the defense cited five areas of alleged errors in the lower court, the justices found “prejudicial error” in then-Prosecuting Attorney William Sadler’s closing comments they said referred inappropriately to Keesecker’s decision not to take the stand in her own defense.
The case involved Keesecker’s alleged sexual relationship with a then-15-year-old boy she supervised as a church worship leader in Princeton. The defendant, 34 at the time, was accused and subsequently convicted of a number of sexual activities with the teenager between January and June 2005.
Upon learning an investigation was underway, she issued a statement to authorities, in which West Virginia State Police troopers testified she confessed. That statement and testimony from the teenage accuser constituted the state’s evidence during a trial conducted before Mercer County Circuit Court Judge John Frazier in early 2006.
Keesecker did not testify in her own defense, and then-Prosecuting Attorney William Sadler reminded jurors.
In three instances, Sadler told jurors that no one came into the courtroom and denied a confession Keesecker offered West Virginia State Police Trooper B.S. Burner in late June 2005. Defense counsel Mark McMillian successfully argued those statements constituted a violation of Keesecker’s right to remain silent.
“While the remarks of the prosecutor were not particularly extensive, they were emphatic enough to produce a pronounced effect upon the jury,” the assenting judges wrote in the per curiam opinion.
Though the judges acknowledged Sadler’s comments were likely designed to emphasize the voluntary nature of Keesecker’s confession, they ruled the statements also stressed the fact that only the defendant could have presented testimony to counter the confession.
“We cannot conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that the improper comment did not contribute to the guilty verdict, and we therefore reverse the Appellant’s conviction on this basis,” the court wrote.
In addition to the statements that yielded the conviction reversal, McMillian alleged the lower court committed the following errors: permitted Sadler to present a closing argument steeped in religious theory; failed to suppress Keesecker’s confession; allowed the state’s possession of telephone conversations allegedly recorded by the complainant’s mother; and the determination there was substantial risk that Keesecker would reoffend if sentenced to probation or other alternative sentencing.
The high court declined to reverse the conviction on any of those grounds, only addressing them briefly in light of the previous decision to overturn.
The per curiam opinion expressed the collective opinions of the justices who ruled in favor of overturning the conviction.
Chief Justice Elliott “Spike” Maynard disagreed and reserved the right to file a dissenting opinion.
Keesecker was originally charged with 11 counts of third-degree sexual assault and convicted on six counts. Frazier suspended sentences on three charges, opting to sentence her to three consecutive terms of one to five years in custody. Keesecker was also ordered to register with the West Virginia State Police as a convicted sex offender.
The conviction reversal wiped that slate clean and restarted the process at the pretrial level. Her listing on the WVSP Sex Offender Registry had been removed Monday.
Next, Mercer County Prosecuting Attorney Timm Boggess said the circuit court will schedule a status hearing and eventually schedule a new trial. The charges and indictment against Keesecker remain in place, Boggess said.
— Contact Tammie Toler at ttoler@ptonline.net.
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