Jan. 19, 2025 10a
(WGTD)---This is the first week of true freedom for Martel Lee, the Kenosha teen who dodged a bullet when a judge, in a rare move, set aside a jury’s guilty verdict in a sexual assault case last November and ordered a new trial.
On Friday Judge Gerad Dougvillo granted the prosecutor’s motion to dismiss the case altogether, thus canceling the trial and freeing Lee from bond restrictions that Lee was under in the pendency of the second trial.
Friday's dismissal also cleared the way for the now 17-year-old Martel to talk openly about the case and his eight months in jail. "My experience was hell," he said. "I was getting bullied because of my age." Martel also vowed not to let the experience affect him in any negative way.
Although state law mostly prohibits consideration of the substance and nature of closed-door jury deliberations in any appeal, Judge Dougvillo, in setting aside the jury verdict last November, said he was convinced, based on juror reactions in open court and in statements and affidavits filed well after the August trial, that some jurors felt that the state hadn’t proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt, but were reluctant to speak up.
Lee was accused of raping a male classmate in a bathroom of a Kenosha high school early last year.
Also cited by the judge in his November ruling was the work of a WGTD News investigation into the case, and that of blogger Kevin Mathewson who was eventually hired as an investigator by defense attorney Michael Barth. Barth had been working under contract by the Public Defender’s Office.
A couple of jurors told WGTD they believed Barth’s defense was lacking. Barth himself told WGTD he believed he had presented a case that was strong enough for jurors to not only acquit, but also question whether the alleged sexual assault had occurred at all.
In seeking a new trial last fall, Barth noted that one hold out, in the heat of the deliberations, recalled being told to prove that Lee hadn’t committed the crime, a request that was the polar opposite of the jury’s duty to judge the case based on the reasonable doubt standard.
While he sat in jail following the conviction, Martel’s case picked up steam in the community, with members of the Kenosha Education Association and a group called Leaders of Kenosha getting involved.
In setting aside the verdict and ordering a new trial last fall, Dougvillo cited as precedent a 100-year-old state case in which a trial court judge was advised that he alone had the ultimate authority at that level to ensure that justice prevailed.
Meanwhile, Martel is enrolling in a KUSD credit recovery program, in hopes of graduating from high school on time a year from June.
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