Opinion/Bill Lueders

Patty case: More reasons for shock

Of all of the sad and shocking things that have happened during Patty's long ordeal, perhaps the saddest and most shocking happened in a Dane County courtroom on March 11. It was the fourth day of the weeklong trial of Joseph J. Bong, 28, accused of Patty, a legally blind local woman, in September 1997. The defense's star witness, Madison Police Det. Tom Woodmansee, was about to testify.

Suddenly, about a dozen Madison police officers arrived, badges visible, and parked on the side of the courtroom behind Bong and his family. Two or three other officers, including Capt. Cheri Maples, conspicuously dissented from this show of police support for defendant Bong, and sat on the other side of the aisle, behind the prosecutor and members of Patty's family.

Bong's most recent felony conviction, until the jury found him guilty of five felony charges in connection with Patty's brutal rape, was for using a sawed-off shotgun a few days after this event to rob a motel and abduct the manager and her boyfriend. When Bong grabbed the terrified woman by the hair and pulled her head toward his crotch, the boyfriend lunged at him and pried the gun away, allowing the couple to flee. That police officers would side with Bong more than Patty is remarkable, but not surprising.

For years the department, under the non-leadership of Chief Richard Williams, has shown no sympathy for Patty and no remorse for any of the things it's done to compound her pain. These include botching the rape investigation and pressuring her to recant.

Bong's prosecutor, Deputy District Attorney Judy Schwaemle, documented at trial how Woodmansee, then a rookie detective, repeatedly overlooked critical evidence. Said Schwaemle, "His disregard of that evidence led him to a false conclusion," that Patty was lying, and "led him to create bad evidence," Patty’s recantation. She lamented the damage done "by the bad investigation of the Madison Police Department."

Patty's surprise interrogation took place a month after the rape in tiny former jail cell. Woodmansee and Det. Linda Draeger confronted her with their conclusion that she made it up. When she asked to take a lie-detector test, they refused, saying they knew she was lying. They told Patty there was no physical evidence and that no one believed she was telling the truth.

"They persuaded her that she was all alone in this," Schwaemle told jurors. Woodmansee, on the stand, admitted saying these things and more, including lying to Patty about the results of a test that was never done.

Asked Schwaemle, "If you’re not trying to overwhelm her with how much is stacked against her, why are you making things up?" Replied Woodmansee, "It was a bad ruse." He also admitted threatening to lock Patty up, as she has said all along: "I told her she had the option of going to Dane County Mental Health or be arrested and jailed."

Patty recanted, telling the detectives, "I’ll say whatever you want." The next day, she went back to her original account. She later sent a letter complaining about what "your detectives" had done Woodmansee's supervisor, who gave it to him. The next day, Woodmansee sent his file to the DA's office, asking that Patty be charged with a crime for her original rape report.

The office, in what District Attorney Brian Blanchard now calls "a mistake" (see Watchdog, 3/26/04), did file this charge. It was dismissed in August 1998, after semen was belatedly found on a crime-scene bed sheet. This was ultimately matched to Joseph Bong.

Patty, in her struggle to be heard and have the case reopened, told her story to Isthmus. She also filed a complaint with the Madison Police and Fire Commission and a lawsuit in federal court; both were dismissed. These actions -- a rape victim fighting for justice -- have aroused the police department's enduring enmity.

Last week, Chief Williams put out a department-wide memo on the case. It fudges facts and even mints a fresh lie, on top of others he's told. Williams says allegations that Bong's name was supplied to police early on were investigated by Special Agent Liz Feagles of the state Justice Department "and determined to be untrue." Says Feagles, "I wasn't able to determine whether it was true or not." Woodmansee's own report shows that Patty and her daughter both identified a man named Lonnie as a suspect. Madison police did not look into this, even after Lonnie was arrested along with his cousin, Joseph Bong, for the motel robbery and abduction.

But the most shocking thing about Williams' memo is that, even now that Bong's guilt has been proven beyond a reasonable doubt, the chief makes no apology to Patty nor any admission of error on the part of Madison police. The only member of the department who has apologized to Patty is Cheri Maples, back in 2001, in response to which Williams had her investigated for possible disciplinary action.

Message to the chief on the occasion of his retirement (another thing he repeatedly lied about): Good riddance.

In a Wisconsin State Journal article that ran Sunday, Woodmansee declined comment and Det. Draeger said she takes "full responsibility for my actions." This she demonstrated by refusing to discuss those actions, which include invoking the story of "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" to impress upon Patty that, unless she recanted, she could never again turn to police for help. Another officer involved, Lauri Schwartz, used this opportunity to blame the victim (who she has never met or spoken to), saying Patty "was inconsistent in what she reported" and suggesting there is still reason to doubt that she had been raped.

"Patty has waited 6½ years for the detectives to apologize," says Mike Short, who represented her in the federal lawsuit. "I can understand a new detective making mistakes during an investigation and a colleague supporting his faulty conclusions. I can't understand the detectives' failure to take responsibility for their actions and issue a well-deserved apology after turning a vulnerable woman's life upside-down."

The police are not the only ones who deserve blame. So do the Police and Fire Commission, the courts, and the city of Madison, which rebuffed Patty at every turn. Someday, the full story of what this brave woman endured to bring her rapist to justice might be told. If anyone is not shocked by it -- even the police who appeared in court on Bong's side of the aisle -- then God help us all.