Man accused in 2007 sex assault case in Minneapolis may soon finally face trial

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) – The Hennepin County Legal professional’s Workplace goes to nice lengths to carry an accused intercourse offender accountable for a violent Minneapolis assault 15 years in the past.

The case is legally difficult. It includes a jogger allegedly attacked at gunpoint by a stranger on Growth Island and a suspect who would spend years in federal jail for a separate, unrelated crime.

Nonetheless, prosecutors by no means let the case towards him go, regardless of some lengthy odds.

It was March 23, 2007, a Friday night, when an unsuspecting feminine jogger ran right into a nightmare on Growth Island. In keeping with courtroom paperwork, an unknown assailant startled the girl on a path.

The armed suspect would finally drive her down some stairs at gunpoint, threatening to shoot her if she didn’t comply. Held towards a retaining wall, the person sexually assaulted her telling her to “cease crying, I’m gonna rape you, what I would like.”

He then advised her to shut her eyes and depend to 1,000. The alleged sufferer would rush to a close-by relative’s home the place she was in a position to protect some forensic proof that might match to a recognized suspect within the nationwide DNA index system: Robert Allen DeLong, then of Blaine.

DeLong could be arrested days later after robbing a Lakeville financial institution. FOX 9 was there quickly after DeLong fled proper into an unrelated regulation enforcement saturation sting on I-35. Lakeville Police Officer Greg Jensen made the cease.

“I am positive he was shocked there have been so many so shortly,” Officer Jensen defined on the time. “A whole lot of it was luck. Luck for us, not a lot for him.”

Whereas DeLong would finally spend years in federal jail for the financial institution theft, Hennepin County prosecutors had been pressured to drop the intercourse assault costs towards him on the time when the girl he allegedly attacked suffered much more catastrophic hurt. She was concerned in a life-altering automobile crash and by no means recovered to the purpose the place she might take part within the prison justice system.

The regulation 15 years in the past made it unattainable for the state to press on with the case.

“The difficulty turns into this alleged sufferer, on this case, are her statements coming in right here or not?” defined prison protection lawyer Debbie Lang. “And if they’re suppressed, is there nonetheless sufficient to maneuver ahead?”

Lang is a Twin Cities prison protection lawyer who just isn’t concerned on this case, however nicely versed within the legal guidelines surrounding a U.S. Supreme Courtroom resolution generally known as Crawford v. Washington. The ruling would rework how prosecutors are allowed to get statements admitted into courtroom if a witness, or a sufferer on this case, is “unavailable” and due to this fact, unable to have their claims cross-examined by the accused’s counsel.

These questions may embody what the girl reported to 911 within the warmth of the second, how do we all know he was armed with a firearm, and what did she inform family and friends on the time?

Because the regulation advanced surrounding whether or not sure out-of-court statements are admissible in prison proceedings, veteran prosecutor Amy Sweasy stored assessing the scenario and re-filed the case towards DeLong in 2016, two counts of first-degree prison sexual conduct, even with the girl nonetheless unable to participate within the proceedings.

“Initially, when Crawford got here out, everybody considered it as a vivid line,” stated Lang. “Any out-of-court assertion from a non-available witness was not coming in. That has unquestionably, unquestionably been chipped away.”

When DeLong’s federal sentence for the financial institution theft expired just lately, Sweasy and her complicated prosecution unit pounced. The now-62-year-old suspect was transferred to the Hennepin County Jail on July 1 the place he stays locked up because the intercourse assault case towards him performs out.

Whereas DeLong’s alleged sufferer nonetheless can not take part within the authorized proceedings due to the devastating penalties of the crash, she continues to be alive and there stays long-sought justice to be served on her behalf.

The Hennepin County Legal professional’s Workplace declined to take part on this story citing the continuing litigation in addition to respect for the alleged sufferer within the case.

Robert DeLong is due again in courtroom for his subsequent listening to in September.