VALPARAISO | Prosecutors said Friday they expect it will take longer than the usual week to try 17-year-old April Kuchta on charges of handcuffing, confining and sexually assaulting a teenage boy.
A trial date of Oct. 17 was confirmed during a short hearing before Porter Superior Judge Bill Alexa.
Kuchta, of Valparaiso, appeared in court wearing shackles and the green-and-white-striped garb of a maximum security jail inmate.
Her defense attorney, Bob Harper, said he would be preparing documents on several pretrial motions to which he reached a tentative agreement with prosecutors.
While neither side would elaborate on the motions in question, Harper did challenge a claim that the purported male victim, who is 18 now and was 17 at the time of the alleged incident, is mentally disabled and thus was more susceptible to the attack.
Harper argued on behalf of Kuchta that the purported victim has been accepted to Valparaiso University on a scholarship.
Harper has asked the court to prohibit prosecutors from raising the disabilities claim during the trial. If the claim is allowed, he asked that prosecutors reveal what expert they will use to testify to the mental disability, as is required by law.
Kuchta is accused of luring the teen to her house and placing him in handcuffs at knifepoint. She also is accused of forcing the boy to make humiliating statements and sexually assaulting him.
Kuchta, who was 16 at the time of the alleged incident, was charged as an adult and faces 20 to 50 years in prison on just one of her five charges.
A 15-year-old Valparaiso High School freshman was sentenced by the juvenile court in June to an undetermined amount of time at a girls school after admitting to her role in the case.
Harper also filed motions asking the court to allow the jury to see a recorded interview in which police allegedly led the purported victim in their questioning.
Maybe our admission standards have dropped! ;)
Quote from: vu72 on October 08, 2011, 09:23:02 AM
Maybe our admission standards have dropped! ;)
Not that I'm interested in making light of the overall situation, but yes. Having been on campus for 3+ years, there seems to be something lacking in the modern VU student.
My understanding is that the boy might have Asperger syndrome. He is very smart, but has severe social and interpersonal dysfunctions. I know for a fact that there are currently other students at VU with this or similar conditions.