He's found guilty of indecent exposure, not sexual assault.
By: Peter O'Connell
Review - Journal
A Washington state man arrested after he chased a screaming woman down a hotel hallway while clad only in a strategically placed sock avoided a possible life sentence this week.
William Donnelly, 62, had been charged with two counts of sexual assault in the December 1997 incident that occurred at the San Remo.
Defense attorney Robert Draskovich said a District Court jury instead found Donnelly guilty of indecent exposure Wednesday.
The gross misdemeanor carries a maximum sentence of one year in prison. Each of the sexual assault counts carried a possible sentence of life in prison.
Donnelly knew the woman who testified that he raped her in his hotel room, though she said their relationship was platonic.
She said she awoke to find him standing over her bed, an array of sex toys and a camera positioned nearby. She said he raped her until she managed to free herself from her attacker and flee the room. She said she pulled her clothes on as she made her escape.
Other guests heard her screaming in the hallway and summoned security officers, who found Donnelly in the hallway wearing only a well-positioned sock.
At trial, Draskovich elicited evidence that after Donnelly was arrested, the victim and some of her friends went to his homes in Washington and Idaho and removed items. No charges were filed in those incidents.
The Hungry Horse News, a Montana weekly, reported in December 1997 that the missing items included a 1984 Pontiac Firebird, cash, a samurai sword, Mexican blankets and tequila.
Draskovich suggested Donnelly became alarmed when the victim left the room after threatening to wrongly accuse him of rape. He said this would explain why his nearly naked client was pursuing the woman down the hotel hallway.
"It did not mean he sexually assaulted her," Draskovich said. "It just meant that he left the room in a hurry without appropriate attire."
Because he did not testify, jurors were not advised that Donnelly had a prior sexual assault conviction.
