Konesky pleads guilty to rape

A Havre man pleaded guilty in state District Court in Havre to, on June 5, 2011, raping a woman who had gone to sleep in his room after a house party in his apartment building.

Jacob J. Konesky, born in 1991, pleaded guilty in a plea agreement to a felony charge of sexual intercourse without consent.

Judge John C. McKeon of Chinook, who took jurisdiction in the case after the Hill County Attorney requested Judge Dan Boucher recuse himself, had previously dismissed the same charge against Joe Sohm.

The Hill County Attorney recommended in the plea agreement that Konesky be sentenced to a four-year deferred imposition of sentence, spend six months in jail, pay restitution including the victim's counseling expenses and expected future counseling expenses, and complete a sex offender treatment program.

If McKeon follows the recommendations at sentencing, set for Jan. 15, and if Konesky abides by all conditions of release, after the four-year probationary period he could petition to have the felony struck from his record.

The victim told police that she had been at a party in Konesky's apartment, and that she went to his room to ask if she could sleep on the floor because she wanted to avoid another party-goer who "wanted to get with her. " Konesky and Sohm both were sleeping in the bed in the room, she said.

She said she fell asleep on the floor, and later woke up on Konesky's bed with her clothing partially removed and one man molesting her and another taking pictures. The victim said she grabbed her clothes and left the room.

Sohm told police that he had been asleep in the bed, and woke up when the woman came in the room, stood behind the door and took off her jeans and put on some shorts. He said she crawled into the bed and passed out. He fell asleep again, and woke when the woman "flipped out, " he said, and she put on her jeans and left. He then went back to sleep, Sohm said, telling officers that other than when she came in the room he was asleep the entire time and did not touch her.

McKeon dismissed the charge against Sohm, saying that Sohm's mere presence in a room does not show probability that he had committed the offense of sexual intercourse without consent. McKeon noted in his ruling that, when ruling on a motion to dismiss a charge, the court looks at whether there is enough evidence to indicate the defendant committed a specific offense, and cannot look at any possibility of guilt by accountability, solicitation, conspiracy or in some other offense.