 Jeffrey Dake In 1997, a 14-year-old girl accused 27-year-old Jeffrey Dake, a family friend who sometimes stayed in her family’s home in Langlade County, Wisconsin, of coming home drunk and raping her twice. The girl said someone jumped into her bed in the middle of the night, and though it was dark, she knew it was Dake because of the feel of his shoes. She said Dake gave her $20 not to tell anyone. At trial in Langlade County Circuit Court, the girl's stepfather testified that Dake knew that the victim was offered $20, a detail only the rapist would know. Dake claimed that the stepfather told him that information after the crime. In March 1998, a jury convicted Dake of rape and he was sentenced to 16 years in prison.
The Wisconsin Innocence Project at the University of Wisconsin Law School began reinvestigating Dake's case in 2006, and discovered that the prosecution had withheld evidence that the girl’s stepfather had also been charged with sexually assaulting her during the same time period when she claimed Dake assaulted her. The stepfather had negotiated a deal with the prosecution in exchange for his testimony against Dake. In June 2007, a Langlade County Circuit Court judge granted Dake a new trial. The prosecution then dismissed the charges a month later.
- Stephanie Denzel |