In September 1996, a woman complained to her supervisors that Rodney Erwin Duerson grabbed her from behind, pressed himself against her, made lewd comments and kissed her neck.
The woman and Duerson were employees at Evans Army Community Hospital at Fort Carson.
But the Army decided not to pursue criminal charges against Duerson even though a military investigator wrote in his report that he believed there was probable cause that the incident occurred.
In November 2006, another woman, who is deaf and worked at Evans Army Community Hospital, made nearly an identical complaint against Duerson.
She told her supervisors that Duerson came up behind her while she was cleaning the men’s restroom, groped her, kissed her neck and then put his hands on her genitals.
This time, federal prosecutors decided to charge Duerson with unlawful sexual contact.
But Duerson’s lawyer, Ed Harris, filed a motion with U.S. District Judge John L. Kane to keep information about the 1996 allegations away from jurors during Duerson’s upcoming trial.
Although Harris and federal prosecutor Suneeta Hazra agreed that the conduct alleged in both cases is nearly identical, they disagreed about whether it was fair to use it.
During a hearing Friday, Harris argued that there was not enough evidence that the 1996 case occurred, the incident was a decade old, and Duerson had not been in trouble with the law between the two reports.
“Not only do we not have a conviction here, we don’t have criminal charges filed,” Harris said to the judge.
Hazra argued that it didn’t matter that the first incident was 10 years old or that Duerson had no record of offense in between.
“There is nothing to suggest that he has changed his behavior,” she said.
After listening to both arguments, Kane granted Duerson’s motion. If the case goes to trial, jurors won’t hear about the woman’s complaint in 1996.
“This admissal would create an atmosphere of prejudice to this defendant,” Kane said.
While the judge said he wasn’t questioning the validity of the first incident, he said the allegations were never proved and the government made a decision not to prosecute Duerson at that time.
“The government had full opportunity to do whatever they wanted and they did not do it,” Kane said.
Felisa Cardona: 303-954-1219 or fcardona@denverpost.com
