CF man cleared by jury in sexual assault case
Feb. 17—CHIPPEWA FALLS — A Chippewa Falls man was cleared by a jury Wednesday of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman in July 2019.
Kristopher J. Pahl, 40, 19941 Highway X, was charged with second-degree sexual assault of an unconcious person in Chippewa County Court.
The trial began Monday, with closing arguments occurring Wednesday morning. The jury deliberated about 40 minutes before reaching their not guilty verdict.
"I think this is a case that never should have been tried, never should have been charged, never should have been brought to court," defense attorney George Miller said after the verdict was read. "The evidence is overwhelmingly in support of Mr. Pahl's innocence."
During the trial, Miller showed the jurors numerous Facebook messages between Pahl and the accuser, including some sexually-explicit messages she sent to Pahl in September 2019, more than two months after the incident.
"If you don't believe anything else, look at her texts," Miller told the jury. "This sex happened when both of them were tired. It was 'sleepy sex.'"
The sexual encounter occurred July 1, 2019, at a home in the town of Lafayette.
Miller reminded the jury that the state had to prove Pahl was aware that she was unconscious when sex began, and he believes the state failed to prove that.
Pahl testified for several hours on Tuesday, where he read the back-and-forth messages in the days and weeks after the sexual encounter.
"There was no discussion (of her being angry), verbally or through (Facebook) Messenger," Pahl testified.
Chippewa County District Attorney Wade Newell told the jury the woman was asleep when the sexual encounter began, and the woman's young 2 1/2-year-old son was lying nearby. Newell cast doubt on her willingness to have sex with him there. Newell also argued that Pahl's messages to the woman the next day was him "fishing" for a reaction to what had happened.
The trial got off to a rocky start, when Miller used each of his five allotted 'strikes' to remove potential jurors by selecting five women from the jury pool for removal. Newell objected to the decision, and Judge James Isaacson agreed that removing two of the potential female jurors was without merit. However, Newell decided not to object further, and the trial moved forward.
Pahl was recently cleared of a separate sexual assault. On Feb. 14, 2019, a 37-year-old woman said Pahl came into her bedroom and sexually assaulted her. She also said she told him she didn't want to have sex, and she cried while he assaulted her. She said Pahl had been physically abusive to her, kicking and pushing her, for the past year. Pahl was interviewed Jan. 3, 2020, and he denied sexually assaulting the woman. The district attorney's office filed the motion to dismiss the charge of third-degree sexual assault in September.
Online court records show Pahl was convicted in Rusk County Court in 2015 of intentionally subjecting an individual to risk to abuse-cause bodily harm and battery to an unborn child. He served a six-month jail sentence and was placed on probation for two years.
