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Prosecution declines to change McNally sex crime charge

Written by Sam Taylor -Argonaut

Friday, 31 March 2006

Latah County Deputy Prosecutor Michelle Evans told District Judge John Stegner in January that she would not lessen the sex-crime charges against a former student, which means he still faces life in prison. University of Idaho sophomore Ryan McNally, who is no longer at school, was found guilty of one felony count of “forcible sexual penetration with a foreign object” in January. In a rare move, jurors sent a letter to the judge asking him to show leniency when sentencing McNally. In the letter, they said they did not believe McNally would re-offend and that he had made a mistake, but was still guilty. Stegner then met with Evans and asked her to consider pleading the guilty charge down to “sexual abuse of a vulnerable adult,” but after speaking with Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson she decided to keep the original charge, giving several reasons for her decision. The lesser charge would have meant McNally could be sentenced to 25 years in prison and a $25,000 fine. Evans stated in a letter to Stegner that one reason she declined to lessen the charges was because there was evidence that the July 2005 offense for which he was found guilty was not McNally’s first time involved in such actions. “I have information that Mr. McNally has acted sexually inappropriately with another young lady against her will by repeatedly sticking his hand down her pants and grabbing her crotch,” Evans said. “We will be asking (the Moscow Police Department) to follow up with investigating this incident in anticipation of sentencing. Consequently, the case at bar does not appear to be an isolated event.” Evans also disagreed with type of charges that McNally might plead down to. “I don’t believe the fact of this case fall under the provisions of (the Idaho code involving sexual abuse of a vulnerable adult),” Evans wrote in the statement to the judge. “Given the history … it seems clear to me that ‘vulnerable adult’ is not meant (to) include those that are temporarily unconscious due to alcohol and/or drug use.” McNally, who was kicked out of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity after the summer 2005 incident, was at an off-campus residence when he committed the crime, according to court records. The 20-year-old apparently found a woman passed out on a couch after a group had consumed alcohol and smoked marijuana, and then molested her with his fingers, prosecutor Bill Thompson said in a previous interview. Under Idaho law, fingers are considered a foreign object. The young woman woke up during the sexual assault and demanded that McNally stop before going to another apartment and calling the police. Evans said given McNally’s version of the events “as he testified in trial, I don’t think we can construe that he thought (the victim) was vulnerable.” “In fact, he claims he thought she was consenting to his actions,” Evans said. Evans also said another reason she declined to lessen the charges was because she questioned McNally’s version of the events. “I firmly believe that Mr. McNally lied under oath as he testified at trial,” she said in the statement. “In light of his three confessions to (the MPD), his subsequent version was blatantly false. The jury verdict indicated they also concluded that he lied.” Evans finally stated that the jury had found McNally guilty, beyond a reasonable doubt, of forcible sexual penetration by use of a foreign object and that their concerns were related to his sentencing and not his guilt. McNally is scheduled to be sentenced at 4 p.m. April 17 at the Latah County Courthouse. The judge will base his decision off trial information and pre-sentence documentation, which is marked confidential at the courthouse and is not open to the public. Stegner had ordered a psychosexual evaluation to be administered to McNally before sentencing that would assess his “sexual development, sexual deviancy, sexual history and risk of re-offense.” The evaluation was also intended to determine if McNally could be a violent sexual predator. Add as favorites (29) | Views: 888 Be first to comment this article Write Comment Please keep the topic of messages relevant to the subject of the article. Personal verbal attacks will be deleted. Please don't use comments to plug your web site. Such material will be removed. Just ensure to *Refresh* your browser for a new security code to be displayed prior to clicking on the 'Send' button. Keep in mind that the above process only applies if you simply entered the wrong security code. Name: Title: Comment: