Racine police say a man sexually assaulted a woman so high on methamphetamines she was incapable of giving consent. The woman died in the hours after the assault because of her drug use.
Michael Hunter of Kenosha was charged Wednesday in Racine County Circuit Court with one felony count of second degree sexual assault. Because Hunter has past felony convictions, if he is found guilty of all charges, he faces up to 46 years in prison and/or up to $100,000 in fines.
According to the criminal complaint, police were called shortly at 11:20 a.m. on April 1 to the 1500 block of Taylor Avenue for a report of a possibly deceased person. When they arrived, the man who lives there directed officers to the nude body of a woman lying facedown on the floor. It was apparent to them that she’d been dead for several hours.
Police say Hunter was also on scene and told them he and the woman had been doing drugs for days before they ended up at the residence on Taylor Avenue the night before, on March 31. While they were at the residence, the woman lost consciousness and Hunter asked the resident to help him carry the woman into the bedroom, but the man refused so Hunter dragged her along by her arms.
The man told police he kept asking if the woman was okay because he was worried about her condition, the complaint continues, but he eventually stopped asking when Hunter made it clear the woman would be fine. The man said he never heard the woman speak after she was dragged into the bedroom, and he didn’t know if she ever regained coherency, the complaint continues.
When the man looked into the bedroom around midnight and saw the woman lying naked on her back and Hunter sitting on the floor with his back to the wall smoking a cigarette. At the time, police say, the man said he didn’t know if the woman was alive or dead, and he didn’t check on the woman until police arrived that morning.
Hunter told officers the woman woke up several times and was calm and coherent, so they had sex multiple times throughout the night, the complaint reads. Hunter also said he left the residence to smoke crack, and when he returned, he played with the woman’s hair and she was responsive. When he woke up around 4 a.m., though, the woman’s arm and leg were both cold, and he left the residence because he was afraid.
The defendant remains in the Racine County Jail on a $20,000 cash bond. He will next be in court on April 13 for his preliminary hearing.
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