Key witness in Lawrence murder case had been reported for sexual assault, DA says
In a letter to a judge this week, the Douglas County District Attorney said her office recently discovered that a key witness in a controversial murder case had been under investigation for sexual assault.
The revelation provoked further questions about the long-running case, which dates back to Nov. 9, 2014, when the body of Justina Altamirano Mosso’s body was found at a Lawrence apartment.
Rontarus Washington was charged with murdering the 19-year-old woman and was jailed five years before going to trial in September 2019. After the jury could not reach a verdict, he was scheduled to go to trial for a second time this September.
Washington’s defense team has said he had no motive for bludgeoning his neighbor to death and alleged that Mosso’s estranged husband Felipe Cantu Ruiz was the real killer. Ruiz was also a key witness in Washington’s trial.
In a March 9 letter to Douglas County Judge James McCabria, District Attorney Suzanne Valdez said that she only recently found out that Ruiz was a suspect in a March 2017 attack.
Valdez told the judge that she was reviewing sexual assault cases that had not yet been charged when she learned of the case against Ruiz. Valdez’s office could not find any case records, she wrote, but was able to get them from the Lawrence Police Department. Valdez said in the letter that Washington’s defense attorneys had received the information about the sexual assault case.
According to an affidavit from the sexual assault case, Ruiz kissed a woman and put his hand up her dress even though she repeatedly told him to stop. The woman’s boyfriend and Ruiz got into an altercation. The woman told police she was between both of them when she was struck in the nose.
A police report said the officer observed blood below her nose and that the woman sobbed several points during the interview.
Police were unable to locate Ruiz, the police report said.
Ruiz took the stand as a key witness more than two years later at Washington’s trial. Much of his testimony focused on the tumultuous relationship between himself and Mosso.
Ruiz’s assault investigation remains unresolved. In Valdez’s letter, she said a charging decision would be made by another district attorney’s office.
On Friday, the Douglas County District Attorney’s Office referred to a previous statement issued in February that said it was committed to swift justice and that Washington’s case was scheduled for a September trial.
Defense attorney Angela Keck said Friday she could not comment on Valdez’s letter.
“I can’t respond at this time, particularly in light of the fact that a motion to seal has been filed by the State,” she said in an email.
Tasha Neal, a community activist who has attended Washington’s court hearings and spoken at demonstrations outside the courthouse, said the letter shows there is “corruption in Lawrence.”
Lost in the years of litigation has been justice for Mosso, Neal added.
Valdez was elected in November after defeating Charles Branson, who had been DA for 16 years.
Washington has a court appearance on Monday. Hearings are livestreamed on the court’s YouTube page.
This story was originally published March 12, 2021 at 6:14 PM.
