Several prosecution setbacks in case involving ex-law officer

A McHenry County judge Thursday tossed out an intimidation charge against Leslie Lunsmann, a fitting end to what was a tough day for prosecutors trying to convince a jury that the decorated former law enforcement officer sexually assaulted a bartender at his McHenry tavern.

The ruling capped a day in which prosecutors saw one of their own witnesses contradict key testimony Lunsmann's accuser gave a day earlier and another call into question claims the accuser was visibly upset after a closed-door encounter with the defendant.

Jurors are expected to begin deliberations this afternoon on remaining charges of criminal sexual assault, aggravated criminal sexual abuse and unlawful restraint stemming from a 26-year-old woman's accusations Lunsmann locked her in an employee washroom at his Mulligan's Saloon on July 18, 2006, groped her and shoved his hand down her pants.

Before they begin Lunsmann, a former police officer and investigator for the McHenry County state's attorney, is expected to testify his accuser made up false claims because he fired her the night of the alleged assault.

Lunsmann, 51, also had been facing an intimidation charge alleging he told his accuser he could "make her disappear" if she told anyone of the alleged assault.

But the woman never mentioned any threat during her 90 minutes on the witness stand Wednesday and Thursday, leading Judge Sharon Prather to dismiss the charge after prosecutors rested their case.

"There was no specific evidence of a threat being made by the defendant," Prather said.

Earlier Thursday a bartender working at Mulligan's on the night of the incident contradicted the accuser's claims that Lunsmann forced her to sit at the bar with him for several minutes after the alleged attack.

Instead, prosecution witness Karen Smiesko said the woman seemed upset when she exited the employee washroom, but gathered her things and left the tavern without sitting at the bar first. Smiesko said she never saw Lunsmann grab the woman and force her to sit at the bar with him.