River Falls man accused of child sexual assault scheduled for motion hearing
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by LeAnn R. Ralph
MENOMONIE — A 38-year-old River Falls man charged with the sexual assault of a child in Boyceville is scheduled in Dunn County for a motion hearing to allow access to the alleged victim’s mental health records.
Derek P. Johnson and his attorney, Daniel P. Repka, appeared by video before Judge James Peterson in Dunn County Circuit Court for a status conference May 4.
Johnson is charged with one Class B felony count of first degree sexual assault — intercourse with a person under the age of 12 and as a repeat offender.
The criminal complaint in the case was filed in November of 2021.
During the May 4 hearing, when the judge asked what motion hearings would be required, Repka said a “Shiffra Green” motion would disclose anything needed prior to the motion hearing, according to online court records.
A motion hearing is scheduled for June 14.
According to a Marquette University Law Review article published in the fall of 2022, “In Wisconsin, defendants in a sexual assault criminal case have a mechanism known as a Shiffra-Green motion by which they can request the judge to review the victim’s private, privileged treatment records in an attempt to discover evidence that would support the defense, most often in challenging the credibility of the victim. If a victim refuses to waive the privilege protecting the records, he or she is barred from testifying.”
The Marquette Law Review article is advocating for Wisconsin to move away from allowing Shiffra-Green motions and goes on to say, “At the outset of the country’s founding, if a woman came forward with a rape allegation, she was often presumed to be lying until she was able to prove otherwise …The characteristics of what was seen as a false allegation (e.g. delayed reporting, lack of injury, a victim not fighting back against a perpetrator) are now recognized to be rape myths. In fact, the belief that false allegations are commonplace is a rape myth in and of itself, and estimates put false reporting rates at only 2 percent to 8 percent.”
The Johnson case is scheduled for a three-day jury trial in September, with a final pre-trial hearing scheduled August 25.
Bail
Bail for Johnson was set at $10,000 cash in December of 2021, but Judge Peterson reduced the bail to $2,000 cash in August of 2022, and $8,000 was refunded to Johnson.
Johnson has been convicted of felony possession of methamphetamine, according to the Dunn County criminal complaint, and according to online court records, he was found guilty by a St. Croix County jury in April of 2015 of manufacturing and/or delivering methamphetamine.
St. Croix County Circuit Court Judge Edward Vlack sentenced Johnson to three years in state prison and four years of extended supervision for the felony possession of methamphetamine.
Boyceville
According to the criminal complaint, the sexual assault took place in the Village of Boyceville a number of years ago.
During a forensic interview with a Dunn County social worker, when asked to tell the social worker about Johnson and what had happened, the girl brought her knees to her chest and began crying.
Boyceville Police Chief Greg Lamkin, who received a report several months earlier about the sexual assault of a child three or four years ago in Boyceville, observed the interview remotely.
Police Chief Lamkin said he viewed the girl’s act of bringing her knees to her chest “as a protective posture.”
When the social worker asked the girl if Johnson had said anything to her, the girl said he had told her that if she told anyone, he would do the same thing to her younger sister, who was two or three years old at the time.
The first degree sexual assault of a child is a Class B felony that, upon conviction, carries a possible penalty of up to 60 years in prison.
The repeat offender modifier can increase the prison time by two years for a misdemeanor and six years for a felony.
