Jury finds Lingerie Night attempted kidnapper guilty

APPLETON As two guilty verdicts were delivered against him Wednesday, Dennis L. Mitchell shook his head and wiped his eyes, whispering intensely to his defense attorney.

Outagamie County jurors took just under three hours to find Mitchell guilty of attempted kidnapping and prostitution after a two-day trial. The 46-year-old Appleton man was accused of attacking an Eager Beaver bartender after Lingerie Night in July, throwing a garbage bag over her head and choking her.

DAY ONE: Trial begins for Lingerie Night kidnapping attempt

“We saw a young woman come forward and report something, and we had participation from people in the community who interrupted what could have been a pretty horrific act,” said Assistant District Attorney Andrew Maier. “Something one of the detectives said was that we all have people to answer to, and I think the public was served today.”

Mitchell, who was initially expected to testify in his own defense, chose to remain silent and not take the stand. Defense attorney Amy Menzel said there were enough holes in the prosecutor’s argument to find reasonable doubt and acquit Mitchell.

“Certainly someone would have seen what (the victim) reported. No one ever saw (Mitchell) try to put a bag over her head,” Menzel said. “We didn’t even hear until the trial that the bag was put over her head. In her written statement, (the victim) says that he tried putting the bag over her head. Which is it? Those are two very different things.”

During a two-hour videotaped interview the jury viewed Wednesday, Mitchell told police that while he did approach the bartender, he never planned to kidnap her. Repeatedly, Mitchell said he never put his hands on her, but drunkenly stumbled to his car and drove away.

“What the defense believes happened was she didn’t like Mr. Mitchell and she didn’t want him talking to her anymore,” Menzel said. “He probably frightened her, and he knows he’s a drunken fool, but that’s not illegal.”

Maier said the 23-year-old bartender could not have convincingly lied about the attack to witnesses, police, prosecutors and the jury.

“If (she) is so sick of the defendant she would manufacture this story, she should get an award for acting,” Maier told the jury. “She’d have to be some kind of devious person to come up with this and see it through.”

Mitchell was also found guilty of trying to hire a woman to perform a sex act. The victim told police Mitchell approached her in his vehicle and offered her money for oral sex. When she refused, she said he drove away.

While state witnesses included both victims, eyewitnesses and a former jail inmate who said Mitchell confessed to him, the defense offered just one witness: a second former jail inmate who turned out to be an eyewitness to the crime as well.

Richard Allen said he and Mitchell discussed the court case while housed together in the Outagamie County Jail in September.

“He was teary-eyed and crying, saying, ‘I’m in here for nothing,’ and that he really didn’t do it,” Allen said. As Mitchell explained the details of his case, Allen said he realized he was nearby, moving his car when Mitchell’s SUV sped away from the scene July 10.

Allen also said believed Mitchell was innocent, but the statement was struck from the record, as jurors are not supposed to consider opinionated remarks.

Myles Amundson said he was on his porch that night when Mitchell moved his black SUV to park behind the victim’s car. Amundson and two other watched as the bartender walked to her car.

“(Mitchell) walked up to the lady, grabbed her by the throat, and she started screaming, ‘Help me, help me,’” Amundson testified. “The bartender said there was a plastic, black garbage bag involved, but I couldn’t see it because it was pretty dark.”

Mitchell’s sentencing hearing is set for 10 a.m. March 6. He faces up to 121/2 years in prison and 71/2 years of parole for the attempted kidnapping — half the maximum sentence if the act had been carried out. Nine months in jail is the maximum sentence for the prostitution conviction.

RELATED: Appleton bar ends Lingerie Night after kidnap attempt

EARLIER: Man charged with attempted kidnapping of bartender

— Ariel Cheung: 920-993-1000, ext. 430, or acheung@postcrescent.com; on Twitter @arielfab

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