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State v. Welch2/5/2004
002). He waived his right to a jury trial. At trial, S.V. identified Welch as the assailant; Steinmeyer testified that Welch's physical size and characteristics were "consistent" with those of the assailant; and both witnesses identified clothing obtained from Welch as the clothing the assailant had been wearing.
The prosecution introduced evidence of three prior incidents in which Welch approached women in Battle Creek Park under circumstances similar to this case. Much of this evidence came from an audiotaped September 20, 1996, police interview with Welch that was admitted as an exhibit. Welch does not now question the introduction of this evidence under State v. Spreigl, 272 Minn. 488, 139 N.W.2d 167 (1965), though he and the state disagree about the extent to which it supports his convictions.
1. Unnamed Woman #1
In the taped interview, Welch told police interrogators that he was jogging one day while wearing only shoes and a scarf. He admitted that he had talked to a woman and "touched her" and that she had "started walking away." Welch told police he masturbated as the woman was leaving and then put his clothes back on and continued jogging. There is no information on the record indicating whether Welch was ever charged, or the woman ever identified, in this incident.
2. Unnamed Woman #2
In the audiotape, Welch admitted that he attacked an unidentified woman in Battle Creek Park on September 3, 1996. Welch agreed that he had dragged the woman into the bushes, choked her, and partially exposed her torso by pulling up her clothes. The woman lost consciousness briefly during this incident and, " hen she regained consciousness, she found that her sports shirt had been pulled up to expose her breasts and Welch was several yards away masturbating." Welch pleaded guilty to false imprisonment.
3. M.P.
At Welch's trial, a woman identified by the initials M.P. testified that on September 18, 1996, she was walking on a paved trail in a wooded area of the park when she saw a man standing in her path. The man took M.P. by the shoulders, forced her off the pavement, and pushed her to the ground. The man pinned her to the ground with his arms and legs. M.P. noticed that the man's zipper was open; his "intent seemed clear enough to" her. She testified that she stabbed him in the chest with her key and bit one of his fingers. After she "bit for awhile , he just got up and left." Police subsequently apprehended Welch, who was found walking several blocks from the scene of the attack. In the taped interview, Welch confessed to attacking M.P. Ultimately, he pleaded guilty to false imprisonment.
Based on the evidence presented, the court found Welch guilty of both kidnapping and attempted second-degree criminal sexual conduct. With respect to the attempted second-degree criminal sexual conduct offense, the court found that Welch's "motivation was to obtain sexual gratification by exposing one or more of the omplainant's intimate parts and masturbating while looking at her. In order to fulfill this objective, he intended to remove, or touch, the clothing covering the immediate area of one or more of omplainant's intimate parts." Buttressing this finding, the court also found that (1) Welch's "initial conversation with omplainant had a discernable sexual overtone" and (2) the "positioning of omplainant [during the attack] has sexual overtones."
After a sentencing hearing, the court sentenced Welch to 45 months in prison for kidnapping. The court then made three findings: (1) that Welch was a patterned sex offender as defined by Minn. Stat. ยง 609.108 (2002); (2) that there were aggravating circumstances "in th
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