Accuser trips on assault details
Drunk and vulgar, former law-enforcement officer Leslie Lunsmann locked himself in a washroom with a female worker at his bar, urinated in front of her then shoved a hand down her pants, the woman testified Wednesday at the outset of the once-lauded investigator's sex assault trial.
Appearing on the witness stand for about an hour, the 26-year-old woman told a jury of eight women and four men Lunsmann also pushed her against a wall in the employee washroom of his bar, Mulligan's Saloon in McHenry, and groped her before she managed to break free.
The woman then struggled through a cross-examination from Lunsmann's defense, confusing times and dates and reluctantly admitting to inconsistencies in her earlier statements.
Whether jurors hold those inconsistencies against her may be key as they decide whether Lunsmann, 51, of McHenry, is guilty of criminal sex assault, aggravated criminal sexual abuse, intimidation and unlawful restraint charges stemming from the July 18, 2006 incident at his tavern.
His accuser, who now lives in Joliet, said she was getting off her bartender shift that night when she sat at the bar next to Lunsmann to have dinner. After some small talk, she testified, Lunsmann began making crude sexual remarks to her while both drank beer and shots of whiskey.
"I tried to play it cool and hoped the conversation would take a different turn," she testified. "It just got worse."
Lunsmann later followed her into the employee washroom where, she testified, he assaulted her.
Defense lawyers, however, hope to convince jurors the woman made up the claims because Lunsmann fired her that night for cheating on her time card. The woman admitted Wednesday she was in the employee restroom at the time of the incident to punch out, even though she had gotten off her shift at least 45 minutes earlier.
"Didn't Les Lunsmann fire you that night because you were cheating the time clock?" Lunsmann attorney Mark Gummerson asked during cross-examination.
"That is so far from the truth," she replied.
The state's case, at least on the intimidation charge, appeared to suffer a setback during the woman's testimony when she did not say Lunsmann threatened to harm or kill her if she told anyone about the alleged assault, as prosecutors expected. The woman testified that he called her names after the incident, but never mentioned a threat.
The defense cross-examination is scheduled to resume this morning and the trial could wrap up late this week or early next week.
Lunsmann, who won awards in the 1990s for his anti-gang efforts while an investigator for the McHenry County State's Attorney's office, could face up to 15 years in prison if found guilty of the charges.