Patty files complaint

Patty, the Madison who says she was raped, then coerced into recanting, this week filed formal complaints against two Madison police officers with the Madison Police and Fire Commission.

One complaint charges that Det. Tom Woodmansee violated department rules against lying, discourtesy and "overbearing, oppressive and tyrannical" conduct in getting Patty to recant on Oct. 2, 1997, and of incomplete report filing afterwards. It says Woodmansee largely admitted to these violations in a motion hearing last July. (Judge Jack Aulik ruled that the use of lies in getting suspects to confess is not improper.)

A second complaint charges that Woodmansee's supervisor, Lt. Dennis George Riley, violated rules regarding complaint acceptance and investigation when he gave two letters of complaint he received from Patty to Woodmansee, rather than the department's Professional Standards Unit. This complaint is essentially the same as one filed on April 1 by Isthmus News Editor Bill Lueders; the PFC this fall ruled that Lueders lacked standing to complain about these alleged violations. (Earlier this month, it dismissed the remaining part of Lueders' complaint, saying there was no evidence Lt. Riley lied to Lueders in disclaiming knowledge of Patty's letters.)

Patty's PFC complaints come on the heels of a letter she received from Mayor Sue Bauman. Patty had asked Bauman to see to it that her complaints against police were investigated. Bauman, in a letter dated Dec. 9, declined, saying the department has concluded there was no "inappropriate action by any Madison police officers" and thus "there is nothing further that the Madison Police Department can or should do."