A teenager accused of raping another teenager in his Braselton subdivision in 2010 has had his case dismissed, according to court documents.
District Attorney Brad Smith wrote in a motion filed on Thursday, Jan. 5, in the Jackson County Superior Court that the charges against the suspect be dismissed after his accuser gave conflicting stories about the incident.
The defendant, who was 15 years old at the time of the incident, had also said that he had consensual sex with his female accuser.
In July 2010, a Braselton officer went to Barrow Regional Medical Center, Winder, for a rape report. While there, the alleged victim told the officer that she had been raped earlier that day by a neighbor. The girl was 14 at the time of the incident.
The girl briefly told the Braselton officer some of the details about the incident, where she claimed that she went to a neighbor’s house after being invited by the defendant. He then pulled her into the house and raped her, according to court documents.
The girl later provided more details to a nurse, who performed a sexual assault exam. The girl further participated in a forensic interview at The Tree House.
About a week after the incident, investigators checked the cell phones of the defendant and the alleged victim. The text messages between the two showed a discussion with the defendant asking the girl if she wanted to lose her virginity and the girl later apologizing to the defendant.
During an interview on Dec. 16 at the District Attorney’s office to prepare for a trial, the girl said she had made a number of recent, long phone calls with the defendant trying to convince him that he raped her and to plead guilty, according to court documents.
The girl also changed her story about the incident and told an Assistant District Attorney about new details from the alleged assault that were not supported by physical evidence, according to court documents.
Since the girl’s statements on Dec. 16 were contradictory to any given before to law enforcement, a sexual assault nurse, a forensic interviewer and her friends, the DA’s office said her credibility was “irreconcilably compromised.”
“The State cannot in good conscience pursue these charges and asks in the interest of justice that this case be (not prosecuted) at this time,” Smith wrote in court documents.
Superior Court Judge Currie Mingledorff signed the order on Jan. 5 to dismiss the charges against the defendant.
