In late September 2011, a female student reported a sexual assault that occurred at a WSU fraternity.

The morning following the alleged assault, a Pullman Police officer responded to Pullman Regional Hospital, where the victim was receiving a medical examination. She helped the officer identify the accused party, and confirmed that the alleged assault took place at a fraternity.

After conversations with the victim, the investigating officer went to the fraternity, and contacted the accused male. The subject admitted to having sex with a female matching the victim’s description, but denied any forcible sexual offense.

The officer collected evidence from the male’s bedroom, and interviewed his housemates about the night the alleged assault had occurred.

About a month later, after discussions with police staff, the investigating officer determined that there was no probable cause to arrest the suspect, and the case was closed.

This case does not demonstrate a shortcoming in the Pullman Police Department, but instead represents the complicated nature of enforcing sexually related crimes. Sex offense cases are often closed before they are seen in court, as police are forced to rely on strictly anecdotal evidence from multiple parties.

Whitman County Prosecutor Denis Tracy said the evidence collected by police at a crime scene is often inconclusive. What makes cases even more difficult to enforce, is when the report of a crime is delayed. Tracy said its unfortunate but understandable and encouraged victims to come forward sooner rather than later.

“It’s sometimes days, weeks and months after the fact,” Tracy said.  “And when that happens, it makes the collection of evidence much more difficult and sometimes impossible.”

He added that because the law requires a prosecutor to prove that a crime happened beyond a reasonable doubt, a case needs to have very conclusive evidence.

“I think our criminal court system is set up with a large number of protections for anyone who is accused of a crime,” Tracy said. “In cases of sexual assault that are considered particularly heinous, the protections of the system are that much more important.”

Unlike the legal system, the Student Standards and Accountability office at WSU uses the “preponderance of evidence” standard when deciding disciplinary action.

“We determine that it is more likely than not that an event occurred,” said WSU Dean of Students Melynda Huskey. This same standard is used in most U.S. civil cases.

She said that enforcement at the university level is based on what a reasonable person might determine after looking at all of the evidence.

“We’re not a criminal court — our interest is in educating students and protecting the community,” Huskey said. “So the preponderance of evidence standard works very well.”

Director of Student Standards and Accountability Adam Jussel said that the office does not have an all-encompassing policy when a student is accused of an infraction, even sexual assault.

“It’s always a case-by-case basis — It always depends on the facts of the circumstance,” he said.

Over the last three years, WSU Comparative Crime Statistics show an average of eight sexual assault reports on campus, with 10 in 2013. However, that does not mean all the cases led to action from the school. The Comparative Crime Statistics also do not include reports from the Pullman Police Department.

Moscow Police Lt. Dave Lehmitz said he often sees cases where police are simply unable to gather enough physical evidence to pursue legal action against an accused party.

“The majority of the sexual assaults we see involve alcohol — people have limited memory,” he said.

Lehmitz said that the Moscow Police staff works with Latah County Prosecutors while police investigations are ongoing. 

“Their prosecutor’s office is briefed on every sexual assault case,” he said. “Then it becomes an ongoing decision to see if we will pursue a criminal case or not.

Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson said he meets with Moscow Police on a daily basis to discuss investigations.

“We hear about every case that’s reported to the police department, including sexual assault,” he said. “We work with law enforcement in the investigations to give guideline legal standards, or what evidence is admissible or not.”

In Whitman County, the prosecutor and the police department meet formally once a month. However, Tracy said officers can call his office anytime they have a legal question, or case that they want to peruse in court.

 “They may have a crime reported to them, and they do their investigation, and if they’re able to determine that it’s not a provable case, then we might well never see it,” Tracy said.

He added he has not seen an increase in sexual offenses in his office over the last few months, and estimated that about 90 percent of charged suspects end up pleading guilty.

Tracy said that he does not see every sexual offense report from Pullman Police, but that Whitman County is different from Latah County — 2 blocks separate the Moscow Police department from their Prosecutor’s office, where 18 miles separate Pullman Police from his Whitman County office.

“It’s not practical,” Tracy said of a daily meeting between Pullman Police and the prosecutor’s office.

“We have more informal meetings (over the phone) on a weekly or daily basis if they have questions or need insight,” he said.