State rests case in Cascade County rape trial

The state rested its case Tuesday afternoon in the trial of a Sun Prairie man accused of raping an acquaintance in December 2014.

Tommy Seth Dellar, 45, faces one count of sexual intercourse without consent and one count of sexual assault, both felonies, for the alleged attack on Dec. 6, 2014.

The case’s lead detective, C.B. “Blue” Corneliusen of the Cascade County Sheriff’s Office, finished his testimony for the state Tuesday morning.

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During cross examination by defense attorney Mark Frisbie, Corneliusen told the jury about information he received from Dellar’s common-law wife that contradicted the defendant’s assertion that he was unable to perform sexually. The detective explained that Dellar’s wife said they had sex the morning after the reported incident. She also told him their sex life was “damn good,” he testified.

She was called to the stand next and confirmed that she spoke to Corneliusen about her sexual activity with her husband and confirmed what he said was true. Investigators took a swab from Dellar’s wife to include as a reference standard for DNA testing.

Much of the rest of the day, like the case in general, involved the reported victim and her credibility.

Frisbie also questioned Corneliusen about his interviews with the reported victim. Frisbie asked if the detective did not ask the woman why she didn’t try to stop Dellar’s reported conduct immediately, or why she didn’t fight harder.

Corneliusen indicated he asked the woman when and if she told the defendant “no.”

“Do victims have a duty to fight back?” Prosecutor Ryan Ball asked during redirect.

“No,” Corneliusen answered.

The reported victim also testified Tuesday morning. She told the jury everything she remembered from that day. She said she returned from the store and saw tire tracks leading to her home. She told her neighbor, Dellar’s daughter, about the tracks.

The woman said she was going to ask a friend of Dellar’s to check out the place with her, but Dellar told him not to. She said Dellar instead suggested she check out his new home while she waited for her boyfriend or his dad to return. He told her his dog recently had puppies and she could see them.

The woman told the jury that Dellar’s behavior that made her uncomfortable. He told her about a yoga position that would help her lower back pain and asked her to try it, she said. The woman said Dellar touched her lower back, that it made her uncomfortable and she asked him to stop.

This pattern of behavior happened again, according to her testimony. She said he checked out her butt. She said he touched her knee when apologizing.

The woman said she looked at the door multiple times and told Dellar she wanted to go home.

“I was thinking, ‘How am I going to get out of this?’” the woman told the jury.

Next, the woman said, Dellar made a comment about her chest, lifted her shirt and bra and sexually assaulted her.

“What happened in the few seconds when he was approaching you?” Frisbie asked her later during cross-examination. “Why didn’t you stop him as he was lifting up your shirt?”

The woman was wiping away tears during questioning. She said she was uncomfortable and unsure what to do, but she did pull her shirt down.

The woman says she tried to stay out of Dellar’s bedroom, but he used his body position to guide her down the hall. Frisbie noted later the woman told the 911 operator he led her by the arm, instead.

“Should I fight or should I clam up?” the woman recalled the thoughts she had in Dellar’s bedroom. “The next thing I knew my mind went blank.”

The woman said Dellar kissed her, pulled down her pants and lifted her onto the bed. She said he told her to relax. The woman said she was crying at this point, telling him “no” and that she wanted to go home. Then, she told the jury, he began performing oral sex on her.

The woman recalled thinking, “Should I kick him or just lay here and hope for the best?”

She said she worried if she kicked him he would hit her.

“Were you still telling him ‘no?’” prosecutor Ryan Ball asked.

“Yeah, I told him ‘no,’” the woman answered.

The woman said Dellar began having sex with her, despite her pleas for him to stop. She said she reached a point where she couldn’t say anything else and just waited for it to stop.

When he finished, the woman said, Dellar told her he had ejaculated inside of her. She told the jury she asked to go home and he asked her to roll a few cigarettes first.

When Dellar did take her home, she said, he said if she told anyone what happened he would “kill the one I love most.”

The woman said she took that to mean her boyfriend.

The woman said when she returned home she essentially barricaded herself inside until her boyfriend’s father returned. He told her to call 911 right away when she told him what happened.

A deputy from the sheriff’s office responded, she said, and she told him what happened. Then, she was transported by ambulance to the emergency room for a forensic exam by a sexual assault nurse examiner, or SANE. This exam and evidence collection process is commonly referred to as a rape kit.

The nurse who performed the exam testified Tuesday. She showed the jury an example of the rape kit, including a stack of envelopes designated for samples to be taken during the exam.

Those samples included a vaginal swab, samples of head hair and pubic hair, fingernail scrapings and more. The nurse called the “head-to-toe” exam “extensive.” In this case, the nurse also noted there were scratches on the woman’s chest area, near her clavicle bones.

The woman was also questioned about reports she made after the incident of alleged harassment and a physical attack. The woman said some black males told her to recant her statement about the alleged rape or they would kill her. She said a black male hit her in the face and ribs outside her home and made similar threats.

Corneliusen told the jury he could not prove either of those things happened.

The defense called Cascade County Sheriff’s Deputy Brandt Olsen to testify about the assault, which was reported Dec. 28, 2015.

Olsen testified that he only found the woman’s footprints in the snow. He also testified that she had no signs of physical injury.

The last issue involving the reported victim’s character involved something she called a “joke” made by her boyfriend before the incident with Dellar. The woman testified that her boyfriend was drunk and angry with one of his former romantic partners about child custody, and he asked her if she knew anyone who would perform oral sex on a man and keep the semen in an attempt to set him up.

The woman testified that she asked her sister and another woman over the phone if they would do it, and they all laughed about it. She said her boyfriend even said he was joking.

“You think that’s funny?” Frisbie asked the woman.

“In a way,” she answered.

“Like it’s funny that Mr. Deller is sitting over there,” Frisbie pointed at his client.

“No,” the woman answered.

The defense called the woman back to the witness for brief testimony about the crime reporting process. The two remaining defense witnesses failed to report to court Tuesday, despite being subpoenaed.

Frisbie requested arrest warrants for the witnesses be issued, and if possible, the witnesses be brought in on Wednesday to testify before the defense rests its case.