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WAUKESHA, Wis. (AP) Mark Chmura goes to trial Tuesday, charged with
sexually assaulting his children's former baby sitter at a high school
party.
The 31-year-old former Green Bay Packers star has pleaded innocent to felony
charges of third-degree sexual assault and child enticement.
The trial will take place in suburban Waukesha. Jury selection begins
Tuesday in Janesville, less than a two-hour drive from Milwaukee.
The prom party on April 9, 2000, was held at the Hartland home of Robert
Gessert, Chmura's friend.
Gessert, 43, has pleaded innocent to charges of second-degree sexual assault
and fourth-degree sexual assault involving an 18-year-old woman at the same
party.
Chmura is accused of assault by a 17-year-old girl. The girl's mother said
she was enraged when she learned of what supposedly happened at the party.
"So I said, 'Who is he, because I'm going to kill him,'" she said in the
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Monday. "I wanted to shoot him. And we do
have a gun in our house."
The daughter's name has been withheld because of the nature of the case, and
the newspaper did not identify the mother.
High school football player Michael Kleber initially told police he saw the
17-year-old girl enter a bathroom after Chmura with a "smile." But in a
revised statement a month later he made no reference to seeing the girl
follow Chmura into the bathroom.
Kleber said at a hearing Monday he gave the revised statement to authorities
because he was scared of getting in trouble for drinking at a party.
Chmura lawyer Gerald Boyle said the second statement by Michael Kleber was
coerced and he wants it banned as evidence. Judge Mark Gempeler said he will
rule on the request after a jury is selected.
The mother said her family doesn't plan to sue Chmura for damages if he is
convicted.
Her daughter testified during a preliminary hearing in May that she entered
the bathroom after Chmura gestured to her and called her over. The mother
said her daughter told her she didn't yell or fight Chmura in the bathroom
because "he was so big" and she was in shock.
Chmura's lawyers plan to argue that the girl's hymen was intact after the
party, proving he didn't assault her. Prosecutors contend it is not unusual
for the hymen to remain intact after a sexual assault.
The mother said her daughter is studying at a college where the case
receives little attention.
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