A 16-year-old Kenosha teen smiled today as Kenosha County Circuit Court Judge Gerad Dougvillo ordered the dismissal of his second degree sexual assault charge, with prejudice. With prejudice means that the charge is permanently dismissed and cannot be re-filed.

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This came after a court case spanning almost one year, with many twists and turns. KCE was present in court today.

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“The state is moving to dismiss this case with prejudice. I have been looking over at this case,” said Kenosha County District Attorney Xavier Solis in court today. “I have done my due diligence on this case. I have spoken to other witnesses in this case that were not called to trial, such as the ESL teacher for the alleged victim, and also I was able to receive more information through my investigation. Also, looking at some of the statements that were given by the alleged victim, I believe based on the fact that the state will not be able to prove this case beyond a reasonable doubt at trial, we are moving to dismiss with prejudice,” Solis added.

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“Certainly no objection,” said defense attorney Carl Johnson. “We’re thankful and grateful that District Attorney Solis put effort into this to examine the case, investigate it, and saw the weaknesses that we thought existed as well, and we appreciate them moving to dismiss. We think it’s the right outcome,” he added.

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“This has been certainly an incredibly unique and, I would imagine, very difficult road for everybody involved,” said Kenosha County Circuit Court Judge Gerad Dougvillo, “It’s also quite unique in the fact that the individuals we have here, both in the state and the defense, were not the initial individuals who had tried this case and somewhat brought us to this point. But, nevertheless, I am glad that we’re now at an appropriate conclusion here to grant the state’s motions,” the judge added.

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With that, Mr. Lee is now a free man.

“The difference I saw between the new and the old [prosecutor], [Smathers], I don’t think she was looking for justice. I think she just wanted to see me locked up. She was looking for a win….I just feel like she wasn’t fair. I don’t even know why she picked the case up,” said Matel after court. “The District Attorney shook my hand and told me ‘good luck.’ That was crazy, that made me feel good.

Lee says that he will be be going back to graduate High School. He’s started a new career option. He’s been recording hip-hop music about this difficult time. His first song will be featured on YouTube soon.

“I was heartbroken. I couldn’t work. I couldn’t eat. … I was so emotional. I really couldn’t be there for my other kids the way I was supposed to because I was so depressed about my son being in jail for something that he didn’t do. Didn’t want to go outside because I felt like, why am I hanging out and my son is in jail for something that he didn’t do,” said Jen Jones, Martel’s mom. “{DA Solis saw the truth in this case and he did what was right. And I appreciate that. I really do,” she added.

District Attorney Solis told KCE that if he were DA at the time Lee was charged, he may not have even charged the case. “I definitely would have done more investigation in this type of case, this type of nature. We have a 16-year-old defendant. If this individual, is in fact, is guilty, we would have held him accountable. However, we need to make sure that this the investigation is thorough… Basically, I would have done more investigation. And my first thing was ‘let’s speak to the teachers.’ They never spoke to the teachers on that day.”

Back Story

In a courtroom filled to capacity On November 22, 2024, 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 last 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 this author, 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.

Assistant District Attorney Alexandra Smathers wrote a letter to the court attempting to get Mathewson removed from the case as an investigator because 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.”

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.

Judge 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.

After overturning the verdict, Smathers asked the Wisconsin Department of Justice to appeal. They declined.

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.”

DA Solis took over this case on his first day in office and spoke to the alleged victim on his second day in office. “This case was a priority, along with others, to review. I started on day one,” said Solis.

Martel submitted paperwork right after court to have his arrest records expunged from the Wisconsin Department of Justice. Once they receive it, they will remove the record of his arrest from the Statewide database.