In a courtroom filled to capacity this morning, a Kenosha Judge vacated a guilty verdict for 16-year-old Martel D. Lee. On August 15, 2024, Lee was found guilty of second degree sexual assault. The assault allegedly occurred at Indian Trail High School earlier this year. Lee was supposed to be sentenced on October 28, 2024, but three jurors sent letters to the Judge, expressing remorse for agreeing to a verdict that they did not believe in.

Kenosha County Circuit Court Judge Gared Dougvillo delayed the sentencing. He gave defense attorney Mike Barth and prosecutor Alexandra Smathers time to write briefs. The judge also indicated that he wanted affidavits from jurors to validate the letters sent to the court. The Wisconsin Public Defender’s office appointed Kevin Mathewson, a criminal defense investigator and editor of Kenosha County Eye to gather affidavits and evidence. Mathewson submitted three affidavits from jurors that he contacted and spoke to. Lee, Attorney Barth, and Lee’s mother all signed a conflict of interest waiver that allowed Mathewson to act as the defense investigator and report on this case.

Paid Advertisement

Assistant District Attorney Alexandra Smathers wrote a letter to the court attempting to get Mathewson removed from the case as an investigator becuase of what she calls a “bias against herself and the Kenosha County DA’s office.” The judge ignored this foolest request. Smathers also made false assertions about Mathewson in another letter. Today, Judge Dougvillo acknowledged the statements by Smathers as being “not correct.”

“I’m glad that Judge Dougvillo made a record that Smathers’ attempt to discredit me was unfounded. I do my job professionally. I find it strange that Smathers doubted my work on this case but failed to ask the Kenosha County District Attorney’s Investigator to check my work. I believe she was being disingenuous with the court, something she’s done before. She wrote a false and defamatory letter to Aurora Health to get a cherished SANE nurse fired. She lies and has no integrity,” said Mathewson. “I’m glad she’s leaving the Kenosha DA’s Office. She’s not only a bad prosecutor, but a bad person. I can now see why she was demoted in Sheboygan County.”

Paid Advertisement

Barth argued in his written brief that Lee should be given a new trial due to the jurors’ sworn testimony, saying that their verdicts weren’t their real verdicts. Barth faced a very high bar and an uphill battle. A Kenosha Attorney with decades of experience told KCE this was only the second time he saw a jury’s verdict overturned like this.

Paid Advertisement

Dougvillo gave a synopsis of this case. He noted that while the jury’s verdict was read, several jurors were crying, some had their heads down, and one even seemed to be praying. He acknowledged that there was no physical evidence in this case and it came down to the credibility of the defendant and the complaining witness. He said that the deliberations took longer than the trial. The jury seemed deadlocked several times. Dougvillo noted that all of the cases that Smathers cited were for cases in which the defendant was already sentenced. In this case, Lee has not been sentenced. Dougvillo reiterated that The Constitution and State Statute mandated that he properly administered justice. “Dougvillo found that good cause exists that there was a miscarriage of justice. With that, he ordered the verdict overturned. He ordered that there be a new trial.

Smathers told the court that the State would be appealing the decision. She then left the courtroom and went into the back room. She was then seen crying.

Paid Advertisement

KCE spoke to Jen Jones, Lee’s mother after the hearing. “I was overjoyed with the judge’s decision. It was fair. I don’t understand why [Smathers] is fighting this so much. She knew for a fact she didn’t have enough evidence to take this to trial. She is evil,” said Jones. “[Smathers] was crying becuase she lost. I feel she had a ‘win at all costs’ attitude. I hope she leaves this county becuase she’s not fair. She’s not in this for justice.”

Judge Dougvillo scheduled a hearing for this Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. to discuss bail. Since Lee made a demand for a speedy trial, there is a chance he could be released then. If he is, Lee’s mother said he wants “Pizza from Dominos and to play his PS5.” She said “Maybe we’ll put up Christmas decorations together.”

Paid Advertisement

Allegations

According to the criminal complaint, he raped another student at Indian Trail High School on January 15, 2024. On February 19, 2024 the victim made a delayed report to police that Lee went into the bathroom stall after him and raped him. The victim also told police that the Lee used a translation app on his phone that translated from english to spanish to order the man to do his bidding. The victim was a spanish-only speaker and just recently immigrated to the USA. The victim, however had some credibility issues. His story changed many times. He recanted his allegations at least once, and then re-reported the allegations after a suicide attempt in which he stabbed himself in the chest multiple times and told his father he was “speaking with Satan.”

KCE was only present during the reading of the verdict. At least four jurors were actively weeping as the judge read the verdict, “Guilty.” Lee’s mother, Jen Jones was at every day of the trial and told us about many inconsistencies. “First [the victim] said my son went under the wall of the bathroom stall, later he said he followed him into the stall. He recanted his story twice. Also, [the victim] and his dad testified differently from what police wrote in their reports. First, [the victim] said that Martel threatened him in the classroom, but at trial, said it happened in the bathroom.” That’s when the state moved to dismiss the second count. The victim, who was also 16 at the time of the alleged rape suffers from schizophrenia. (KCE doesn’t usually publish juvenile mental health information, but in this case, it goes to credibility.)

When interviewed by a Kenosha Police Detective, the victim told him that he lied about the sexual assault. He did not know why, but he “just lied.” He was adamant that [he] was not sexually assaulted and “made the story up.”