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False-rape claim case settled
Woman found guilty after no defense is presented; probation granted
John Hacker
Globe Staff Writer
7/7/05
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MOUNT VERNON, Mo. - A woman was found guilty Wednesday of filing a false police report for claiming she was raped two years ago on the side of a road east of Mount Vernon.
Aimee Satterfield, 24, of Elkland, was sentenced to six months in jail on the misdemeanor charge, but Lawrence County Associate Judge Larry W. Meyer suspended imposition of sentence, placed her on two years of unsupervised probation and ordered her to pay restitution of $7,500 plus court costs by Dec. 31, 2006.
Lawrence County Prosecutor Robert George said Satterfield and her attorneys, Dee Wampler and Joe Passanise, both of Springfield, agreed Wednesday to a "trial on the record" and did not present any kind of defense. At the hearing, George read into the record the witnesses he planned to present and what they would say.
"We believed it was in the best interests of our client that we put it to rest here since she was being given an opportunity to keep it off her record," Passanise said. "She didn't want to go to jail. She's got a new life, she's married and receiving counseling."
George said Satterfield waived her right to a jury trial, and Meyer heard the case in a bench trial. Meyer found Satterfield guilty and pronounced the sentence shortly before 11 a.m.
Satterfield called 911 on June 29, 2003, and told police that she was raped at knife-point after she stopped on the side of a road just east of Mount Vernon with a flat tire.
The Lawrence County Sheriff's Department investigated the case for more than eight weeks. Authorities said Satterfield's story fell apart under close scrutiny, and she was charged on Sept. 24, 2003, with filing a false report.
George said Satterfield gave investigators the following account of the alleged incident: Satterfield said she was driving down the road when her car started to fishtail. She stopped her car, walked around the car to confirm she had a flat tire, took off some jewelry she was wearing and put it in her front seat, then got the spare tire out of the back of her 1980s model Pontiac station wagon.
She told authorities that a man stopped and offered to help. George said Satterfield told investigators that the man ultimately punched her in the stomach, then forced her into the front seat of her car, lifted her skirt, sliced open her pantyhose and panties with one swipe of a fillet knife, and raped her. After he left, she called 911.
George said Wednesday that on Tuesday, he called five investigators with the Sheriff's Department who talked about their investigation.
George said cellular phone and other telephone records along with a videotape from a nearby convenience store contradicted Satterfield's claims of what happened.
He said a security video shows Satterfield leaving the Truck Stops of America store at 6:53 p.m. on June 29. He said records from Satterfield's own cellular phone show her calling her mother first, then calling 911 to report the alleged rape at almost exactly 7 p.m. that day.
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George said investigators who tried to re-enact Satterfield's story said it took between 2 1/2 and four minutes to drive from the truck stop to the spot where the rape allegedly took place, the latter leaving only three to four minutes before her first call to 911 and less than that before she called her mother.
George said Satterfield's injuries were not consistent with her account.
Passanise said his client maintains that she was raped on the side of the road, but that mental and physical problems may have clouded her judgment.
"It was undisputed that she had sex that day, and in her mind she was raped," Passanise said. "We said it in court, this woman has suffered many physical and mental health problems. She has tried to commit suicide on at least two occasions, and she was molested as a child. This has been a tragic event in her life, and she just wants to get it behind her."