Free Cry Rape: The True Story of One Woman's Harrowing Quest for Justice by Bill Lueders Page A

Others—including the Wisconsin Innocence Project, which investigates possible wrongful convictions—would later flag both cases as ones where the local police and Dane County District Attorney’s Office may have put innocent people behind bars.
    Dominic arrived at the police department’s detective bureau around 8:20 p.m. Woodmansee greeted him and introduced Detective Draeger.
    They went into an interrogation room. Draeger didn’t ask many Misty and Dominic
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    questions or write a report. Her role was to provide support and be a witness. (Ironically, when asked about this interview later, under oath, she remembered almost nothing about it.) Woodmansee, by this time, had already run a criminal history check on Dominic, finding evidence of impulsive and violent behavior.
    In 1992, Dominic had been arrested in Racine and charged with vandalism and battery for drunkenly smashing his own head into the dashboard of his sister’s car before punching another sister twice in the face with a closed fist. The next year, back in Madison, the mother of one of his two young sons obtained a domestic abuse restraining order against him. She described repeated threats and abuse, including one incident where he allegedly held a gun to her head, threatened to kill her, and then choked her until she collapsed to the pavement.
    Dominic, the detective would note, was mixed race and light skinned, five feet five, 135 pounds, with short black hair, an acne-scarred complexion, and hoop earrings in his left ear. He said he sometimes slept at Misty’s place, mostly on weekends, when Patty was away. He had never been in Patty’s room, which he said was always locked. The last time he stayed overnight before the rape was Monday, September 1, Labor Day. The next night, he was out drinking with friends and took some Percocet—which, he told the detectives, “mellow you out”—
    before returning to his apartment to sleep around 3 or 4 a.m.
    This contradicted Misty’s account, which was that Dominic ended up in her bedroom that night. But Woodmansee either did not notice or decided not to challenge him on it. Dominic went on to explain that he was feeling ill that Wednesday and had left work early, as Misty had said. He went to his mother’s place, where his sister was staying with her new baby. He planned to see Misty again that evening but fell asleep on his mother’s sofa. The next morning Misty called and told him what had happened. He later stopped by Mark’s place but left after Brenda called him names. Asked if he could think of anyone who might be responsible, Dominic named his roommate Slim, who besides fitting the physical description of the alleged rapist had commented more than once that he found Patty attractive.
    Next, Woodmansee asked Dominic to describe his sexual relationship with Misty—everything from how often to which positions to what he did during a herpes outbreak. Dominic said he often used condoms 48
    Perfect Victim
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    but did not know which kind, other than that they came in a pink wrapper (contrary to what Misty had said). Woodmansee asked whether Patty had ever been flirtatious toward him or expressed any sexual interest. Negative. Dominic also said there was currently no animosity between himself and Patty. He described her as outgoing and friendly, although it was his impression that she drank too much. The same, he added, could be said about himself.
    When was the last time Dominic was intoxicated? He said it was just after Labor Day, and that he had ended up at Misty’s place. Dominic paused for several moments, then stated that he may have been mistaken about the last time he had been at Misty’s prior to the rape.
    He now believed it was that Tuesday night, after his booze-and-pill bender with his roommates.
    The detectives took a break and got Dominic a soda. When they resumed questioning at 9:50 p.m., they took a tougher tack. Would Dominic be willing to take a lie detector test with regard