Tart convicted of lesser charge in sexual-assault case

A Brown County jury took just short of two hours to convict Leon Tart of abducting and raping a now 23-year-old Green Bay woman.

But the panel of eight men and four women stopped short of convicting Tart, 45, of De Pere, of attempted murder — instead opting for a lesser charge of first-degree reckless injury.

The move reduced the potential penalty from 126 years in prison to about 78 years for convictions on charges of false imprisonment, first-degree sexual assault and first-degree reckless injury.

Tart picked up the woman as she was walking home from a downtown bar early on Oct. 1, 2005. He drove her to rural Wrightstown, cut off her clothes, sliced her neck and forced her to perform oral sex.

After the sexual assault, the woman was shoved to the ground where she was able to kick Tart in the legs and run into the woods. She made her way to a nearby house where the occupants called 911.

Tart showed no emotion as Brown County Judge J.D. McKay read the jurors' verdicts. The victim and her family wept and hugged.

Tart's lawyer, Ralph Sczygelski, said the jurors decision to adopt the lesser charge was "unexpected."

"I was very pleased by that," he said, acknowledging there was a glut of evidence against his client.

Sczygelski said that even though the jury opted for the reckless injury charge over the attempted homicide charge, it may not be enough to do his client any good.

"He's 45 years old, so he's looking at potentially certainly the rest of his life" in prison, Sczygelski said.

The trial included a day and a half of testimony and included DNA evidence linking Tart to the sexual assault and the victim's in-court identification of Tart as her attacker.

Sherry Culhane, a forensic scientist with the Wisconsin Crime Lab, testified that she found sperm cells in a swab collected from the victim. The DNA in the sample was 11 trillion times more likely to have come from the victim and Tart than from the victim and another random individual.

After the jury rendered its verdict, Sczygelski asked the judge to reconsider an 11th-hour motion to accept a not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect plea, arguing that he learned only Tuesday that his client had spent a year in a mental health facility. Sczygelski also noted that he had trouble communicating with his client over the course of the two-day trial.

McKay rejected the request, noting that it was too late in the proceedings to make changes of that magnitude.

"It was brought out very late in the day," Sczygelski said. "My client never mentioned it to me until literally Tuesday.

"As part of this sentencing process, perhaps something of a psychological evaluation will be done and if that comes back and says this guy has some serious psychological issues, the issue maybe can be revisited, perhaps through the appellate process."

Brown County Deputy District Attorney John Luetscher said he was pleased with the way things turned out Thursday.

"I'm pleased for the victim and I think for the community … I think justice was served here," he said.

Tart is expected back in McKay's court for sentencing Jan. 19.