Opinion ID: 675764
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The State Prosecution

Text: 6 To examine Ritsema's sentence, we must first set out the events leading up to a Wisconsin state criminal prosecution which in turn gave rise to the prosecution of this case. Ritsema was already a felon, having been convicted of both second degree sexual assault and child abuse in 1984. On September 9, 1991 a mentally retarded fourteen year old girl, K.J.L., reported to Janesville police that Ritsema, her sixty-two year old next door neighbor, had sexually assaulted her the day before. K.J.L. told police that sexual behavior between her and Ritsema had been escalating ever since her family moved next door to him in June 1991. She described how, in July and August 1991, Ritsema had befriended her, and then induced her to perform sexual acts on him as he viewed pornographic material. She related that on September 8, she went to Ritsema's trailer for breakfast, and that he took her into his bedroom and had oral and vaginal intercourse with her. 7 Based on K.J.L.'s information, Janesville police obtained and executed a search warrant for the pornographic materials she alleged were in Ritsema's trailer. During the search, police found 64 sexually explicit magazines in Ritsema's spare bedroom. More importantly to this case, however, the police also found in Ritsema's possession four weapons, including two rifles equipped with homemade silencers, which he stored in his bedroom closets. 8 To aid the prosecution, K.J.L. made a formal statement describing in greater detail Ritsema's involvement with her. She wrote that Ritsema bought her gifts in order to lure her into engaging in sexual activities with him. Her statement also indicated that on September 8, after having sexually assaulted her, Ritsema brought K.J.L. to one of his bedroom closets, and showed her a gun with a silencer on it. He told her, if you tell anybody a lot of people will get hurt. 9 State prosecutors charged Ritsema with possession of firearms by a felon and sexual assault to a child. Ritsema pled guilty to one count of sexual contact with a person under the age of sixteen, and the Rock County Circuit Court sentenced him to ten years imprisonment. The firearm charge was referred for federal prosecution, resulting in the two count indictment in this case.