Montgomery County prosecutors said yesterday that they will not seek a second trial in a controversial rape case in which a judge deemed that a jury conviction was improper and set it aside.
Deputy State's Attorney Katherine Winfree said the woman who said she was raped was too traumatized to go through another trial.
Montgomery Circuit Court Judge Durke G. Thompson overturned the jury conviction in March, saying that the woman, an illegal immigrant from Indonesia, may have been seeking revenge against her boyfriend because he refused to marry her. He ruled that Robert Thornett Jr., 39, of Rockville was entitled to a new trial on the charge of second-degree rape but that the conviction on second-degree assault -- which was not disputed by the defendant -- would remain.
Second-degree assault, a misdemeanor, carries a maximum prison term of 10 years. Second-degree rape, a felony, carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years.
Thompson's ruling, which he acknowledged was extraordinary, was decried by the Montgomery chapter of the National Organization for Women and the Women's Legislative Caucus in Annapolis, which called it another example of the judge's callous attitude toward female defendants. Thompson had been under fire after telling a 13-year-old girl's family two years ago that "it takes two to tango" during a sentencing hearing for the man who molested the girl.
State's Attorney Douglas F. Gansler called Thompson's actions in the Thornett case outrageous, saying that overturning a jury verdict undermines the judicial system.
Winfree said yesterday that the decision to drop the case was based solely on the woman's feelings.
"There's really no way to overstate the effect" of a public trial on the victim, Winfree said. "Victims feel in cases like this that they've been victimized twice."
Jennifer B. Page, Thornett's attorney, said the woman's credibility had been seriously damaged. She said prosecutors offered a plea bargain that would have given Thornett about two months in jail, but the proposal was rejected.
"The evidence wasn't there to convict Mr. Thornett," Page said.
Thornett faces sentencing on the second-degree assault charge before Thompson. It has not been scheduled.
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