MI- Rape charges dropped against immigrant teenagers

6-12-2008 Michigan:

KENTWOOD -- Saying there is not enough evidence to carry the case to trial, authorities have dropped rape charges against three teens who came to America from the former Yugoslavia.

The decision has left the young men's families ecstatic and their accuser's family angry and disappointed.

The last testimony in the case came in March, when a judge found there was enough evidence to send the first-degree sexual assault cases to Kent County Circuit Court.

During that probable-cause hearing, an 18-year-old former East Kentwood High School student testified she was sexually assaulted by now 18-year-old Imer Gashi and his friend, Armin Puskar, 18, last August in her home near 52nd Street and Eastern Avenue SE. She said she also was assaulted a second time by Puskar, Gashi and his brother, Nesret Gashi, 19.

She testified she watched pornographic movies with the young men but denied she consented to sex.

Over the next three months while their clients were free on bond, defense attorneys gathered evidence they say shows the accuser was telling various versions of the story to people who were willing to testify.

Defense attorneys also said they had records that showed the young woman attempted to contact her alleged attackers by phone and Internet, and had hung out with them at a football game and other events after the alleged attacks.

Grand Rapids attorney Kelly Lambert, who represented former Bosnian refugee Puskar, said the accuser's main concern was in maintaining a relationship with a boyfriend who dumped her after finding out she had been involved with the formerly accused.

Spring Lake attorneys Robert German and Kevin Megley, who represented former Kosovo refugees Imer and Nesret Gashi, said the woman's story was filled with contradictions that tipped the scale in their clients' favor.

"These guys were not let off on some legal technicality," Lambert said.

However, the young woman's father remains convinced his daughter was the victim of a brutal assault.

He denies his daughter made anything other than incidental contact with the men because they went to the same school and had friends in common. He said phone records showing her allegedly trying to contact the accused came from a third party using her phone.

"She doesn't understand why it's not moving forward," the father said, adding he is not angry with the prosecutor, but feels his daughter has not seen justice. "She's a very trusting person."

He said the defense attorneys have muddied the waters with issues meant to damage his daughter's credibility.

"I believe those guys are guilty," he said of the young men. "It's been pretty rough."

Prosecutors had offered Nesret Gashi a chance to plead guilty to attempted sexual assault -- a maximum five-year felony -- if he testified against the other two. He turned the deal down and, along with the others, faced up to life in prison if convicted.

The defense attorneys said Assistant Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker showed integrity in considering the evidence the defense presented and then dropping the charges.

Becker said there simply was not enough evidence to expect a jury to find the men guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

"If we get more evidence, we could prosecute," Becker said.

But finding more evidence could be difficult. The accuser waited three months to make a report to police, eliminating the possibility of physical evidence. There was no one else present when she claimed the attacks occurred, making it her word against the three accused, who claimed it was consentual.

Becker said the actions of the accuser after the alleged attacks would not be seen favorably by a jury.

The defense attorneys say the accusations have taken a toll on their clients, who have lost jobs and will carry the taint of the accusations with them.

But for now, their families are delighted.

In 1999, The Press ran a series of articles tracing the lives of the Gashi family as they made their way in West Michigan -- among 150 families who did so that year. German said his clients initially did not understand American law, which presumes innocence unless guilt is proven. ..News Source.. by Barton Deiters | The Grand Rapids Press