Prosecutor’s Error Forces Judge To Drop Rape Charge Ewu Football Player Had Been Charged With Attacking Student

A blunder in the Spokane County Prosecutor’s Office forced a judge Tuesday to drop a rape charge against an Eastern Washington University football player.

Tony Ledenko, 19, was arrested last fall for second-degree rape, after a student said she was attacked by him in a campus dormitory.

His trial was scheduled for Jan. 22, when deputy prosecutor Carol Davis was going to be out of town for a work-related conference. She said defense attorney Mark Vovos agreed to waive Ledenko’s right to a speedy trial to accommodate her trip.

By law, a defendant must go to trial within 90 days of his arraignment. Ledenko was arraigned in November.

Vovos, however, said no such agreement was made and his client showed up for trial Jan. 22.

When Davis returned from the conference Jan. 31 and realized the waiver was never secured, she asked Superior Court Judge James Murphy for a retroactive continuance.

By then, however, Ledenko’s speedy trial right had expired and Murphy said he had no choice but to dismiss the case. A retroactive continuance requires “unavoidable, unforseen circumstances” that would prevent going to trial on time. A planned out-of-town trip is neither, Murphy said.

“The fact remains there was not a reassignment of this case, there was not a continuance, there was not a trial within 90 days and there was not a waiver signed,” the judge said. “I think this one maybe fell through the cracks.”

He denied Davis’ request Tuesday to reconsider his decision and dropped the rape charge.

Prosecutor Jim Sweetser said his office will appeal the dismissal.

“I’m not happy, but these things happen from time to time,” Sweetser said. “The lesson we’ve learned is to protect the court file record and not rely on a defense attorney’s word.”

Vovos angrily denied ever agreeing to waive the speedy-trial right or even be asked to by the prosecutor.

“My credibility and my reputation as an attorney for the first time in 28 years … is being challenged,” Vovos said. “What they do is say, ‘Don’t believe Mark Vovos. It’s his fault.”’

Ledenko was accused of forcing a student to have sex with him in his dormitory Oct. 14.

When the woman ran out of the room toward a hallway elevator, witnesses said Ledenko dragged her back to his room by her ankles.

, DataTimes