Opinion ID: 1808114
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Conflict Develops Between Rhodes and Speer

Text: Speer testified that after returning from Vancouver, their relationship changed in that Speer now tried to avoid Rhodes. Speer said he talked to Rhodes as little as possible, but that Rhodes made telephone calls to him after the Vancouver trip. Speer believed that Rhodes kind of had me over a barrel in that Speer was worried the criminal mischief charge would be refiled. Around the time he and Speer returned from Vancouver, Rhodes discovered that Speer had been secretly going out late at night with a girl who was in grade school. Rhodes also had received information that Speer had been window peeping and had sexually assaulted several other girls. Rhodes did not have any written reports regarding two of them, but the record shows that Bradley Roth, special prosecutor, subpoenaed them in the sexual assault case filed against Speer. Rhodes explained that Deputy Mayo had been investigating Ricky Ross in connection with a sexual assault and had talked about the victim's having had sex with a number of men, including Daniel Speer. After returning from Vancouver, Rhodes heard that Speer had been investigated by the Ansley marshal for sexually assaulting a grade school girl. Rhodes referred the latter investigation to the Custer County sheriff's office at the end of the first week in October. Rhodes testified that Speer did not act angry with him until a week after they returned from Vancouver. He acknowledged that Speer seemed to be avoiding him, but Rhodes did not know why. When Rhodes asked Speer what was going on, Speer walked away. Rhodes then wrote Speer several notes and sent him a Mailgram asking what was going on. The notes were left in Speer's car while Speer was at work. Exhibit 10 contains a greeting card and four letters. Exhibit 11 is a final draft of the last letter in exhibit 10. In the first letter, Rhodes refers to his hope that Speer would go to college and to the happy times they had together in Omaha, Lincoln, Seattle, and Vancouver. In the second letter, Rhodes refers to enclosing a shirt as a souvenir to remember some of the fun trips that we took. Rhodes then invited Speer to go to a Billy Joel concertThen of course after the trip you could always go back to being mad at me if you wanted to. Rhodes' third letter refers to enclosing a book covering the top professional law enforcement agencies such as the FBI and states that Rhodes had a line on a job opening up if Speer decided against going to college. The fourth letter, exhibit 11, recalls the events which occurred on the day that you stopped speaking to me, including Ricky Ross' preliminary hearing, Rhodes' leaving a Halloween card in Speer's car, and Rhodes' discussing the Vancouver trip with Donna Winbolt and Speer's mother. The letter also states: When I received a police report from your brother which stated that on a certain night you had been out with Misty Parker and that she had been beaten up, I did not simply jump to the conclusion that you had assualted [sic] her and file an assualt [sic] charge, but instead, I gave you an opportunity to explain and you had a simple explaination [sic] which cleared up the matter. Rhodes testified that on or about October 3, he encountered Speer at the Tumbleweed Cafe. On that occasion, Rhodes observed that Speer had an intense glare on his face and glared at Rhodes while Rhodes ate. On another occasion in the cafe, Rhodes tried to talk to Speer, but Speer ran from the room. Rhodes concluded that Speer was upset because Rhodes had reported him to the sheriff's office in conjunction with the sexual assault investigations.