Shattered assumptions

My problem, simply put, is this: I believe Patty.

All of the information I've managed to obtain, all the instincts I've developed from more than a decade of reporting lead me to conclude that Patty--the Madison woman who says she was raped at knife-point, then coerced by Madison police into confessing that she made it up (see "Cry Rape," 02/13/98)--is telling the truth.

I've spent more time looking into this matter than the Dane County District Attorney's Office, which is criminally prosecuting Patty for recanting her report. I think it's about as likely that she made up this story as it is that a monkey pounding randomly at a typewriter would produce the entire King James version of the Bible without a single comma out of place.

And because I believe Patty, all of the assumptions I used to hold about the local criminal-justice system have been shattered.

I no longer think Madison is a place where rape victims can expect sensitive treatment from the police. I no longer think citizens who make credible accusations of police misconduct will be taken seriously. I realize now that the Dane County DA's office would rather prosecute a rape victim than admit that it made a mistake. And I know that this community's elected leaders, including Mayor Sue Bauman and Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk, are willing to sit on their hands and let this happen.

Bauman, while seizing her chance to score political points by scrutinizing Fire Chief Debra Amesqua, can't muster the courage to stand up to the cops. On her watch, the police have continued to thumb their noses at the state's open records law, ringing up huge bills that the city must pay.

This is the same mayor who sponsored an anti-loitering ordinance that lets police ticket people they can't catch doing anything wrong. Bauman also practically disbanded the city's Equal Opportunities Commission when it had the audacity to propose two sensible measures for curbing police abuse: Having officers record the race of people they pull over and hand out business cards that explain how to file a complaint.

Instead, Bauman created a Task Force on Race to develop "a strategic plan for respecting diversity and undoing racism"--a ridiculously ambitious quest. But I suspect the task force will achieve its true purpose: keeping the city from adopting these two sensible measures for curbing police abuse.

From the moment she left police custody on Oct. 2, Patty has consistently stated that the investigating detective, Tom Woodmansee, got her to come to the detective bureau under false pretenses, brought up her use of Prozac and past history of sexual abuse in an interview she was not allowed to leave, and threatened her with dire consequences unless she confessed.

Patty sent a written complaint about her treatment to Woodmansee's supervisor, Lt. Dennis Riley. Under the department's rules, Riley was supposed to inform Patty of her complaint options and forward her complaint to the appropriate unit. Instead, he gave Patty's complaint to Woodmansee, the accused, to put in his file.

No one from the Madison Police Department is looking into Patty's charges. Police Chief Richard Williams tells me he's made it a point not to even read the reports--until after the DA's office finishes prosecuting Patty. That's convenient, because prosecuting Patty despite evidence of her innocence serves the DA office's interests as well.

Attorney Hal Harlowe, a former Dane County DA, last month filed a motion seeking to suppress statements that his client, a woman charged with felony child abuse, made to Woodmansee after a protracted interrogation in which she, like Patty, was never read her rights. Harlowe says his client, Susan Pankow, "was isolated and subjected to intimidating and coercive techniques," to where her resulting statements "were involuntary." Harlowe's motion was denied after a hearing this Wednesday, but the charge that Woodmansee coerced a false confession remains central to Pankow's defense. No wonder the DA's office doesn't want to admit there may be similar problems with Patty's case!

Woodmansee has also drawn a formal complaint from a high school student over his handling of her sexual-assault complaint, including confronting her behind closed doors at school in violation of district policy. (See "Cop Draws Another Complaint," 3/6/98.)

Hmmm. Three cases in which the same detective is charged with overbearing interrogation techniques that threaten to produce the wrong results. Are all of Woodmansee's accusers--Patty, the high school student, former DA Harlowe--wrong?

I'm sure the DA's office thinks it can undermine Patty's credibility and perhaps secure a conviction. But the people bringing this action--Deputy District Attorney Jill Karofsky and District Attorney Diane Nicks--are decidedly not seekers of truth. Neither of them has ever spoken to Patty or sought to obtain evidence they've been made aware of that supports her version of events.

At best, this prosecution is perverse; at worse, it violates the ethical rules prosecutors are supposed to follow. But they don't care. If anything, they are more determined than ever to punish Patty.

Bill Lueders (blueders@isthmus.com) is news editor of Isthmus.