How to resolve AdBlock issue?
John Wesley Dunn, 27, received the not guilty verdict on one count of rape on Thursday.
“The jury saw and heard all the evidence and we are grateful to the them for seeing through this accuser and for finally vindicating Mr. Dunn with the not guilty verdict. They heard Mr. Dunn testify and they heard the accuser testify and they saw the truth of this case,” said his attorney, Stephen Carter, of the Law Offices of Carter & Carter in Lower Lake.
Prosecutor Ed Borg could not be reached for comment on Friday.
Dunn was arrested on Aug. 7, 2009, for rape, kidnap with intent to commit rape and assault with the intent to commit rape after a 25-year-old Hidden Valley Lake woman who was a casual acquaintance accused him of sexually assaulting her, according to the original sheriff's report.
Following Dunn's December 2009 preliminary hearing, the additional charges were dropped due to insufficient evidence, but the prosecution was allowed to pursue the rape charge, as Lake County News has reported.
The woman who made the allegations to sheriff's officials claimed that she did not remember anything that happened because she was too intoxicated from drinking at Twin Pine Casino the evening before, on July 31, 2009.
According to testimony, the woman pulled Dunn onto the dance floor at the casino and began “freak dancing,” and she reportedly begged him to leave the casino and have sex with her. Dunn took her home and they exchanged amicable texts the next day, but later – after her young child's birthday party – she contacted authorities to report that she had been raped.
Evidence presented at trial included a casino surveillance video that showed Dunn carrying the woman to his car. Carter demonstrated to the jury – based on additional casino video – that the woman and Dunn walked to his car after he carried her a short way, at her request, because her feet hurt from dancing in heels all night and she had removed her shoes. The jury viewed this video again during deliberations.
The woman also was unable to recall the sex act itself or whether or not she asked to have sex with Dunn, according to testimony.
While the prosecution argued that the woman was too intoxicated to consent to sex, the defense countered that there was no reliable evidence of her intoxication level or Dunn's, and that they were consenting adults.
“Is it rape when two intoxicated people have sexual relations? If so, how is it determined which one raped the other?” Carter asked.
When he initially was arrested and charged, Dunn – who has no criminal record – was facing life in prison, and he was held on $350,000 bail.
However, after three weeks in jail and following a lengthy bail hearing on Aug. 28, 2009 – in which 15 friends and community members stepped forward to testify to his character – Dunn was released on his own recognizance.
Since then, Dunn and his family have faced numerous hardships because of the case, according to his attorney.
Dunn, who was the assistant golf pro at the Hidden Valley Lake Golf Course at the time of his arrest, lost his job as a result of the case. Likewise, his father – who shares the same name – also lost his job because of the allegations against his son, Carter said.
Carter said Dunn should have never been arrested or changed with anything.
He added that there was no evidence of anything resembling rape on Dunn's part.
“This case is government overreaching at its absolute worst,” Carter said.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow Lake County News on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LakeCoNews, on Tumblr at www.lakeconews.tumblr.com, on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf and on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/LakeCoNews .
