Man Found Guilty of Sexual Assault of a Child After Backlogged Kit Tested
BELOIT, Wis. – Attorney General Josh Kaul today announced that Rock County Judge Karl R. Hanson accepted Jason A. Smith’s Guilty by No Contest plea for two counts of Second Degree Sexual Assault of a Child that occurred in July of 2000. The victim’s sexual assault kit was tested as part of the Wisconsin Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI) in 2018. This is the fourth conviction to result from the testing of backlogged sexual assault kits in Wisconsin.
“Without the testing of a backlogged sexual assault kit, the defendant in this case wouldn’t have been identified and this conviction wouldn’t have happened,” said Attorney General Kaul. “Thank you to those whose commitment to pursuing justice resulted in this conviction.”
This case was the result of joint effort by Beloit Police Department, DOJ Division of Criminal Investigation SAKI Agents, Wisconsin State Crime Laboratory, and the Wisconsin Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI). Victim services were provided by Anne Kessenich, victim advocate in DOJ’s Office of Crime Victim Services. The case was prosecuted by Assistant Attorneys General Amber Hahn and Noel Lawrence, with assistance from legal associate Tiffany Briggs, paralegals Jackie Righter and Rachael Sweet, in partnership with the Rock County District Attorney’s Office.
Mr. Smith is currently serving time for other sexual assault convictions.
A criminal complaint is available on request.
For survivors looking for information about their kit, contact the law enforcement agency where the assault was reported, a local sexual assault service provider, or the DOJ Office of Crime Victim Services at 1-800-446-6564.
NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. It has not been verified for its accuracy or completeness.
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