Jury verdict halted on rape charge

Thomas L. Culhane, 23, Camas, pleaded guilty Friday to an amended charge of second-degree assault with intent to commit rape after a March 28 motion to stop judgment on a jury's verdict for conviction on second-degree rape.

The jury's verdict followed a three-day trial on four charges. The jury found Culhane guilty of one charge of second-degree rape and a charge of furnishing liquor to minors.

They found him not guilty to a second charge of second-degree rape and a charge of assault. Both of the rape charges and assault involved the same female victim.

During their deliberation, the jury sent a question out to the court which asked about the "separation points" between the two rape charges. The court did not respond, and after the verdict Culhane's attorney, Steven Graham of Spokane, entered an oral objection that the prosecutor had failed to separate the two charges.

A motion for the court to vacate the jury's conviction was filed April 9.

A plea agreement was reached in which Culhane entered a guilty plea second-degree assault charge with intent to commit rape in place of the rape conviction and to the charge of furnishing liquor. He was sentenced to nine months in jail.

The Culhane case followed police investigation of a party at an apartment on Valley Way in Pullman the night of Aug. 19-20 last year. Chief Deputy Prosecutor Dan LeBeau called 15 witnesses, some of them also from Camas, to testify. Testimony at the trial said the victim remained at the apartment after the party broke up because she was incapacitated due to alcohol consumption.