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Rape case dropped against pair of Nebraska men
MARSHALL — At least 10 charges of rape and kidnapping against two Nebraska men were dismissed in Lyon County District Court Thursday.
Charges against Jeffrey James Birschbach, 25, of Omaha and Thomas Lee Bell, 26, of Bellevue, were dismissed without prejudice by Judge George Harrelson.
Dismissal without prejudice means the Lyon County Attorney’s office could charge Bell and Birschbach in the future.
The dismissal comes nearly a year after the men were arrested after an alleged rape was reported Oct. 1. The dismissed charges alleged the men confined a victim in a van and raped her in Marshall.
A jury trial for the two men had been scheduled for this week.
Lawyer Tina Appleby of the Bloomington law firm Halberg Criminal Defense represented Birschbach. Bell was represented by public defender Pam Neumann, and the trials were joined, Appleby said Friday.
“The defense expected to offer eyewitness testimony from several people that had witnessed consensual sexual activity between the alleged victim and one of the defendants,” Appleby told the Independent. “And one of those people was the accuser’s friend.
“Despite efforts, the state was not able to provide either woman for questioning by the defense. The public can draw its own inferences from that, I guess.”
Minutes from Thursday’s court appearance cite Lyon County Attorney Rick Maes’ problem with the alleged victim not staying in contact with him.
Bell had been charged with two counts each of criminal sexual conduct in the first and second degree. Bell had also been charged with criminal sexual conduct in the third degree and kidnapping, liability for crimes of another.
Birschbach had been charged with two counts of criminal sexual conduct in the first degree and one count each of criminal sexual conduct and contact in the second degree and criminal sexual conduct in the third degree, kidnapping, liablity for crimes of another and attempted criminal sexual condcut in the third degree.
Maes did not return a message left by the Independent Friday afternoon.
— Rae Kruger and Dana Yost, Marshall Independent Newspaper
