(Kenosha County Sheriff)
Rashan H. Romaine, 49, of Pleasant Prairie walked into court today and had a noticeable grin on his face for the entirety of two hearings. When he left court, however, he had no look of happiness. This is probably becuase he was expecting to go home today, but he didn’t.
(File Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
Romaine, accused of forcible rape, was set to have his criminal case dismissed today at the request of Kenosha County Assistant District Attorney Alexandra Smathers. In court today, she told Judge Kerkman that the state received new information that and she didn’t think she could prove her case , which was scheduled for a Jury trial in 11 days on July 17, 2024. Judge Kerkman asked Smathers to be more specific. Smathers repeated the same thing again to the judge.
The alleged victim in this case, “Julie” then was given an opportunity to speak. She begged the judge not to dismiss the case. “I was raped by this man. He will rape again,” she said multiple times. “He will reoffend – he is a sexual predator. He raped me and my daughter was a witness.”
“I’m uncomfortable [dismissing this case],” said Kerkman. “We have a cooperating complaining witness. This is not a prefunctary hearing. It’s not appropriate for me to dismiss this case.”
(File Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
According to the criminal complaint:
On August 4, 2023, a Pleasant Prairie Police Department Officer made contact with an adult female identified for the purposes of this complaint as Julie. Julie wished to report a sexual assault that occurred several months ago at her residence located in the Village of Pleasant Prairie. Julie identified the person who assaulted her as Rahsan Romaine.
Julie advised that she has known Romaine and worked with him for over a year and a half. They worked together on the property of the housing community they lived in. Julie stated that sometimes they would flirt, but it never went further than that. On several occasions, Romaine had asked her when they were going to have sex, but she always told him it would never happen.
Julie did not know the exact date the assault occurred, but stated it was at the end of February or beginning of March 2023. She believed it was a Sunday, because her daughter was working late and came home around 10:30PM. That night, Julie came home from snow blowing the sidewalks at the property. Julie took off her Carhart overalls, but was wearing two pairs of pants underneath because of how cold it was outside. Romaine walked into her trailer, which Julie said was not out of the ordinary for him to do as they had a friendly enough relationship where they could walk into each other’s homes. When Romaine came in, Julie noted that he was highly intoxicated and carrying a bottle of Crown Royal.
Romaine asked Julie to drink with him, but she said no because she was tired and wanted to go to bed. Julie was in her bedroom, sitting on the end of her bed while having this conversation with Romaine. Romaine then asked Julie for a hug goodbye. Julie stood up and hugged him.
As Julie was bringing her hands back down from the hug, Romaine grabbed her arms and forced her back on the bed. He then laid on top of her, applying all of his body weight on her so that she could not get up. Julie cried and pleaded with Romaine to “stop” and “get off of me,” but he did not listen. As he laid on top of her, Romaine pulled down both her pairs of pants and her underwear to her mid-thigh, exposing her vagina. He then used his hand to take out his penis.
Shortly after that happened, Julie’s daughter came home from work. Romaine jumped up when he heard the door open and heard her daughter call out for Julie. Romaine shouted for her daughter to “hold up,” and both he and Julie pulled up their pants. Romaine then looked at Julie and said, “You know we ain’t done.” Romaine then left the residence.
Julie later provided text messages between her and Romaine to a police Detective of the Pleasant Prairie Police Department and spoke to her about additional details. Julie advised that Romaine was a drug user and believed he was also “coked up” the night of the assault. Julie explained that there is a big difference between Romaine when he is on drugs and when he is not. When he is not on drugs, he is very nice, knowledgeable, and a common sense guy. However, when he’s using alcohol or cocaine, he starts talking about how he wants to see everyone, claiming he gets turned on and is looking for someone to fuck.
During the night of the assault, Julie stated that after Romaine pulled out his penis, he did force it into her vagina for approximately 5-6 seconds, before the door opened and Romaine jumped off of her. During that time, Julie was fighting and trying to get Romaine off of her. Julie stated that she loved the Defendant like a brother and never thought he would have done something like this. She also stated that Romaine felt like she owed him for the work he did on her son’s home.
Julie advised that she did not give Romaine consent to have sexual contact/intercourse with her.
The Detective also spoke to the victim’s adult daughter, “Jenna”. The night of her mother’s assault, Jenna remembered being at work. Jenna advised she works at Culver’s and was closing that night, which means she usually gets home around 10:30-10:40PM. Normally when she walks in the house, her mother is there to greet her. On the day of the assault, she walked in to find Romaine come scrambling out of her mother’s bedroom. Jenna saw her mother was upset and told Romaine to leave, which he did. Jenna asked her mother what was wrong, because she was distraught and crying, but her mother said she did not want to talk about.
The Detective interviewed numerous women who reside in the housing community where Romaine worked, all of whom described Romaine was sexually aggressive and harassing, many of whom were concerned about their names being used or known in the investigation for fear of Romaine.
One woman, identified for the purposes of the criminal complaint as MF, advised that Romaine once texted her, “So I would love to get together and to be honest I would love to fuck you really good.” Shortly after this, she found him lurking in her backyard at night, so she called the police. The manager of the property, identified for the purposes of the criminal complaint as JD, advised that in December of 2022, Romaine texted her “But I should be honest with you…I have a crush on you and I know you are married but I think you are sexy.” He then texted, “Sorry I’m a little buzzeed.” JD also provided text messages she received from another resident, identified for the purposes of this complaint as YO. YO sent JD a screenshot of text messages YO received from Romaine. In this screenshot, the Defendant texted YO, “You are beautfil (sic) and I would love to fuck you really good. I can’t help myself..I hope I didn’t offend you.” He then said, “I’m sorry I’m just really attracted to you and you are beautiful and sexy and I would love to get together with you and we can fuck like no tomorrow…” YO responded that the Defendant needed to “keep it professional.” JD also described Romaine has violent and aggressive, citing violent altercations he’s gotten into with residents.
KCE spoke with Julie and reviewed text messages and other evidence in which MF told Julie that she didn’t want to go to trial and she couldn’t get off of work. Julie explained that she had to go. MF went to the DA’s office and gave Smathers information that convinced Smathers to dismiss the case.
Julie tells KCE that smathers called Julie’s boss to tell him that Julie was not credible. This seems like it could be considered defamation as you will read later that she has a habit of doing.
(File Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
Julie’s attorney Eric Olson was able to successfully obtain a four-year restraining order for her from Judge Gagliardi last August. “Judge Gagliardi would not have granted a four year restraining order against Mr. Romaine following a long court trial with multiple witnesses if there was not substantial evidence of guilt,” Olson told KCE Thursday.
(File Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
News of the attempted dismissal spread quickly throughout the day. Smathers asked two different judges to dismiss the case today and the hearing took place in two courtrooms.
Xavier Solis, Kenosha attorney and candidate for Kenosha County District Attorney had the following to say to KCE when he heard of the news:
“I do not know all of the specifics of this case, but I can assure the residents of Kenosha County, if I am elected District Attorney of Kenosha County, all sexual assault victims will have their day in court.”
KCE asked Smathers why she was so eager to dismiss the case so quickly. She said she had “no comment.” We then asked her why she was demoted at her previous employer – the Sheboygan County DA’s Office. She told KCE “I don’t wish to discuss this with you.
Romaine’s Criminal History – Arrest / Conviction Record
1994 – Felony Carjacking
2000 – Felony Theft
Resist Officer
2004 – Illegal Drug Activity
Resisting Officer
DC
2006 – Failure to Appear
2007 – OWI
Felony Fleeing and Eluding
Resisting Officer
Carrying Concealed Weapon
Drive Vehicle Without Consent
Theft
2011 – Felony Failure to Pay
2013 – Failure to Pay
2015 – Theft
2017 – Probation Violation
2019 – Drug Possession
2023 – Felony Battery or Threat to Judge, Prosecutor, or Law Enforcement Officer
Disorderly Conduct
Resisting or Obstructing Officer
According to the criminal complaint for the 2023 case, Romaine threatened to beat up and kill an employee of a liquor store in Kenosha. The employee called the police. Romaine was mad becuase he had to wait in line to buy his liquor. Romaine tried to entice the clerk to fight. He eventually left the store. Police arrived and reviewed security footage that confirmed the clerk’s version of events.
Later, the clerk hit the panic button becuase Romaine returned and the police came. Romaine was already gone. Police went to where he was. Romaine resisted arrest. The defendant was verbally and physically aggressive saying “attempted murder on one of you bitches”, “take the cuffs off and I’ll whip the whole department,” “I got some white folks coming for your ass,” “I use to kill you niggas,” “Smack your bitch ass if I didn’t have cuffs on,” “Smack your whole fucking beard off,” “I shot one of you bitches & broke your nose,” and “I’ll beat your ass” x 3.
When he arrived at the jail, he was still physically combative.
Smathers, a proud liberal with her pronouns (she/her) predominantly displayed on her social media accounts, started her career as a prosecutor for the Columbia County DA’s office. This lasted only 6 months. She then went to the Sheboygan County DA’s office. She was promoted to Deputy District Attorney in January of 2020 and demoted in 2021. According to her boss, she didn’t do enough work. He said she wasn’t responding to multiple cases including juvenile and traffic cases. He concluded that her work performance was poor. She soon thereafter quit the department and brought two other prosecutors with her to Kenosha, seemingly out of spite to her former boss that demoted her.
Smathers wrote an untrue and defamatory email to Aurora Hospital which lead to the termination of a beloved Sexual Assault Nurse and an ensuing defamation lawsuit which is scheduled to go to a jury trial.
Smathers has also been under fire for allowing an alleged child rapist to be free on a no-cash bail for many months. Only after KCE and the victim’s family embarrassed her, did she recently file a motion to increase bail.
Judge Milisauskas will likely hear Smathers’ motion to dismiss on June 14, 2024.
40 Responses
If you want a change, VOTE Solis for District Attorney.
Smathers just sucks as a prosecutor and sucks more as a human being. Victims deserve their day in court.
They are complaining witnesses, not “victims.” Don’t put the cart before the horse. Further, this prosecutor would not dismiss a case if she thought she could win it. The case could have serious proof problems.
You make a very good point, and I don’t understand the eagerness to hound Smathers over this. She wouldn’t be moving for a dismissal on a case like this without a good reason.
Honestly it’s a disappointing response from Xavier Solis. Saying something like “all victims will have their day in court” is just playing on emotions and — as you put it — putting the cart before the horse. We *don’t* want a DA who intends to drag every SA case to trial no matter how bad the evidence, just to trot a bare accusation in front of a jury in the hopes you find 12 people who don’t know the definition of “reasonable doubt” and waste tons of time, manpower, and taxpayer money on a losing case.
Can you please print me to which evidence you feel made this case unprosecutable? I’ve seen dozens of text messages emails records and police reports. I’m interested to get your perspective.
Ms. / Mr. Bird Watcher. Normally we agree. Not here. Smathers charged this case herself. She didn’t inherit it. Probable cause is all that is needed to go to trial. It’s a low standard. Give the woman her day in court. Let the jury decide, not an unethical. bureaucrat.
In Wisconsin, an accusation by itself is probable cause. That does not mean that every single criminal accusation should be brought to a jury trial, which costs taxpayers thousands. Trials aren’t thought experiments where prosecutors are meant to roll the dice with insufficient evidence just to see if a jury will bite. If the investigation that followed the arrest produced no usable evidence, a prosecutor should not go to trial with a bare accusation. They have an ethical duty to only go to trial with cases where they believe they have evidence beyond a reasonable doubt. This is explicitly stated in their ethics guidelines (American Bar Association):
> (b) After criminal charges are filed, a prosecutor should maintain them only if the prosecutor continues to reasonably believe that probable cause exists and ***that admissible evidence will be sufficient to support conviction beyond a reasonable doubt.***
Our legal system is already overburdened, hundreds sitting in jail in every county for months on end before even getting a public defender because of the state-wide shortage. The last thing we need is the attitude that every accusation should result in a jury trial, and to do so would be explicitly contrary to the standards for ethical conduct.
Can you please print me to which evidence you feel made this case unprosecutable? I’ve seen dozens of text messages emails records and police reports. I’m interested to get your perspective.
I am not speaking about this specific case, but the general principle of attacking a prosecutor for dropping a case involving a serious crime. The better question is not “evidence that makes the case unprosecutable” but rather “is there proof beyond a reasonable doubt?”
Likely the text messages you’re referring to aren’t even admissible. Texting crude sexual things towards other women in the community can’t be used at a trial like this because they aren’t evidence of an assault occurring and would only serve the purpose of prejudicing the jury.
Witnesses are generally only allowed to testify to personal knowledge and only as it pertains to the specific criminal accusation. From what is quoted by the daughter in this case, she doesn’t appear to be a witness to the actual assault itself but merely the fact of Romaine leaving and her mother crying. That is helpful for the prosecution, but people cry for many reasons aside from being assaulted. Physical evidence is unlikely given the 5 month delay in reporting.
So what is left? An accusation, and testimony that corroborates crying. Do you personally consider that proof beyond a reasonable doubt?
The jury won’t be allowed to see his criminal record, his crude text messages, other women in the community won’t get to testify to him being sexually aggressive towards him, because none of that is evidence that in Spring of 2023 a sexual assault occurred. It’s evidence that he’s a shitty person, and that’s exactly the kind of thing that *isnt* allowed in a criminal trial for a finding of facts of whether or not a sexual assault occurred in spring of 2023.
This is to say nothing of what other information Smathers might have that made the case weaker.
In any case, probable cause is a *terrible* basis for a jury trial. The standard is proof beyond a reasonable doubt and prosecutors are ethically required to dismiss charges if they genuinely believe they haven’t met that standard, and shame on any prosecutor who believes they have insufficient evidence but drags out a trial just to see if the jury disagrees.
Men that deny women are ever raped are complete trash. You should be so ashamed of yourself.
Actually I am a victim. He did use force. My daughter interrupted the assault. MF is not being truthful in her statements. She’d claiming I intend on lying about the assault. Put me on the stand! Put my daughter up there. Put all the women he’s already preyed on on the stand. The entire community of women he terrorized are now sleeping next to their forms of protection. I’m fact, a senior citizen. Just loaded her home with cameras. Yes, he aggressively blocked her vehicle inand said she was going to f him… as she cried and begged him to go away scaring her to shed that she called police. The da didn’t even submit so if the evidence she has Bec apparently calling the owner of the company I work for and defaming my character by telling him I’m not credible so she’s dismissing. It’s my word against a non cooperating witness well call MF who I begged to come to court to testify and she won’t get involved out of fear. Put me on the stand! Give me the justice I deserve. This attack happened. It’s disgusting a serial sexual predator will be set free.
We have witnesses/victims backing out of cases every week because the suspect threatens them and the courts do nothing about it.
And don’t forget all the “men” on here that don’t believe women get raped… as they still believe women are property.
We ?
Unless he’s been convicted of raping these other women, his behavior, however disgusting and wrong, have to relevance to the specific trial of a rape of a particular person. He can’t bring in all the bad acts of a person and use those against them in a specific criminal trial. They all have to be related to the criminal act charged. The fact that he’s an a******, well relevant to most of us, has no relevancy in this hearing
I never asked her to lie. Never. I have proof of me beggng her to come to court and tell the truth. Disgusting. I deserve justice.
Yes you do. And I hope you get it.
Gravely will not hire anyone smarter than himself, so we are stuck with stupid idiots, from boss on down.
This “victim” can’t keep her story straight and her “witnesses” contacted the ADA to inform her they wouldn’t lie for the “victim.” Maybe the ADA wants to drop the charges because its a bogus case?
Can you please print me to which evidence you feel made this case unprosecutable? I’ve seen dozens of text messages emails records and police reports. I’m interested to get your perspective.
Gary my story is straight. And don’t use quotes. Shame on you for insinuating I’m not a victim. What’s bogus is the fact a rapist is going to be freed.
I never asked her to lie. Never. I have proof of me beggng her to come to court and tell the truth. Disgusting. I deserve justice.
Doesn’t he also have a felony conviction in Milwaukee?
In fairness, there were issues with the Sheboygan DA himself. Note that three of the ADA’s in Kenosha left Sheboygan.
Whatta sweetheart – if the rape charge don’t stick he’s gonna do more and more bad shit —- in the old days before cameras where everywhere and millions of cops you could get away with being a vigilante
*were
Good for Judge Kerkman! He is a stand out judge and model for other judges.
This guy needs to be locked up.
Soft on crime solutions have officially expired! It’s not trivial why see repeat criminals continue to wreak havoc on communities and they only seem to escalate in severity over time.
This is decades in the making from Democrat strong holds on cities which includes but not limited to: free handouts, giving extra tax payer money for having more kids, soft on crime judges, lawyers, and DA’s, compromised public school system…..and on and on it goes. If I’m wrong with my assessment, please correct me!
If we want to live in a civil society, we must punish criminals. That doesn’t mean the death penalty for stealing but it does mean enforcing penalties that will undoubtably make a criminal think twice before committing another crime!
Any word on bergs charges ?
I have not heard HARDly a word
Tim Taddy
If he was inside her that should have done a rape kit. That’s a serious thing to leave out and skip. That’s the key to this. We gotta do better Kenosha county
More proof that no one currently employed in the train wreck of a DA’s office in Kenosha County should be elected to run it.
I thought we were supposed to believe all women?
Except Ashley Biden
Unfortunately, as overwhelming as the evidence was against her, Smathers was recently dismissed from the defamation lawsuit
If the state pays out it will be bad for her career.
what a beady eyed little devil. releasing these folks in the community time and time again.
Smather Seems almost as if she is an obstruction in this case. not just this one in particular either. She needs to get a revaluation on her performance and ethics of her job role.
Have lived in Kenosha my whole life. Alexandra Smathers seems to be just one big obstruction. #Justiceforallvictims
PERJURY AT IT’S FINEST💯%