photo by: Mackenzie Clark

Albert Wilson listens to his attorney's closing argument during a hearing on Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020, in Douglas County District Court. Wilson in 2019 was convicted in a Lawrence rape case, but his case was sent back by the Kansas Court of Appeals for the judge to determine whether he should get a new trial based on ineffective assistance of counsel.

At the end of a two-day hearing Tuesday, a defense attorney for a man convicted in a Lawrence rape case pleaded with the judge to grant his client a new trial, arguing that the man’s attorney in the first trial failed to adequately represent him — a claim that prosecutors dispute.

That ruling will come at a later date, though. The defense and the prosecution will submit written findings of fact and conclusions of law by Dec. 21; then Judge Sally Pokorny will determine whether Albert N. Wilson, now 24, was adequately represented during his January 2019 jury trial.

Wilson was convicted of one count of rape in connection with an incident from Sept. 11, 2016, and jurors hung on a second count, which the prosecutor then dropped. The Kansas Court of Appeals sent the case back to Douglas County District Court for Pokorny to decide whether Wilson should get a new trial.

On Monday, the judge heard testimony from Wilson’s trial lawyer, Forrest Lowry, whom Wilson’s current lawyers accuse of inadequate representation, and from John Spiridigliozzi, the forensic psychologist who evaluated the victim on behalf of prosecutors. On Tuesday, Lowry returned for cross-examination by prosecutors, and Assistant Douglas County District Attorney Kate Duncan Butler also called a second forensic psychologist to testify about her review of Spiridigliozzi’s report in the case.

photo by: Mackenzie Clark

Assistant Douglas County District Attorney Kate Duncan Butler questions a witness during a hearing on Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020, in Douglas County District Court to determine whether Albert Wilson should get a new trial based on ineffective assistance of counsel. Seated next to Butler is Deputy DA David Melton.

Lowry had testified Monday about evidence he had missed during the discovery process, including text messages and photos that the defendant’s attorneys said raised questions about the veracity of some things the girl, who was 17 at the time of the 2016 incident, said in her testimony and in her psychological evaluation. The psychologist had diagnosed the girl with post-traumatic stress disorder.

On cross-examination, Lowry gave an overview of his 33 years of experience, the past 15 or so of which have been focused almost entirely on criminal defense. In three other high-level felony sex crime cases from October 2017 through 2019, Lowry said one client was acquitted of two counts of rape. Two juries hung; prosecutors dismissed one case, and in the other, the defendant was later convicted of three misdemeanors instead, Lowry said.

Lowry also discussed some of his strategies and how he goes about handling cases, including when he might hire an expert to testify on his clients’ behalf. Lowry chose not to for Wilson’s trial because he thought a second expert’s evaluation of the girl could backfire and corroborate Spiridigliozzi’s findings, he said.

In this case, Lowry said he missed the evidence that Wilson’s new defense team, Michael Whalen and Josh Dubin, brought out in court Monday. However, Lowry said he probably would have hired an expert to counter Spiridigliozzi’s testimony, particularly if he’d seen portions of the psychologist’s report that prosecutor Amy McGowan had redacted.

When Butler asked Lowry further questions about that Tuesday, he said that some portions of the report that had previously been redacted looked familiar — “but on the other hand, if I’d had a copy, I think I would’ve gotten an expert,” Lowry said of the unredacted report.

photo by: Mackenzie Clark

Attorney Josh Dubin questions a witness during a hearing to determine whether his client, Albert Wilson, should get a new trial, on Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020, in Douglas County District Court.

Dubin, in both his opening and closing arguments, mentioned that one of Wilson’s family members with legal experience had attempted to reach out to Lowry with suggestions for the defense strategy in the case; however, the family member never got a response, Dubin said.

Lowry said in response to Butler’s questions Tuesday that he thought he had a good attorney-client relationship with Wilson, and that they spoke fairly often. He said Wilson had good suggestions, and when Lowry had questions, Wilson had good answers.

“He came across as very honest,” Lowry said of Wilson. “He seemed very innocent to me and still seems very innocent to me, and I trusted what he told me.”

• • •

Christy Blanchard, a psychologist in private practice in Lawrence, testified as an expert witness for the state about her review of Spiridigliozzi’s report. Whalen and Dubin had planned to have another expert, Gerald Gentry, share his concerns about Spiridigliozzi’s report and the state had called Blanchard to rebut that, but the defense instead opted to submit Gentry’s report to the judge instead of calling him to testify.

photo by: Mackenzie Clark

Lawrence psychologist Christy Blanchard smiles as she’s greeted by an attorney during a hearing Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020, in Douglas County District Court to determine whether Albert Wilson should get a new trial. Blanchard testified as an expert for the state.

Blanchard said her role as a forensic rather than a clinical psychologist is generally to provide an objective stance on a legal issue as a friend of the court. She said she’s conducted about 330 evaluations in her career, including of defendants’ competency to stand trial, sex offender and violent offender risk assessments, diagnostic assessments and more.

On Tuesday, Blanchard testified about how different people have different reactions to trauma, and she discussed how sometimes people might not want to talk with even the most trusted people in their lives about trauma they’ve experienced. She said it could be even more frightening to disclose details of trauma to the police, not only because they’re strangers but also because there would be a high likelihood that victims would have to revisit that trauma.

Spiridigliozzi said Monday that he was never provided previous treatment records that he’d requested from the girl, which could have been helpful to clear up some details about when her PTSD symptoms began. Blanchard testified Tuesday that such records would be important to have, but sometimes examinees don’t provide everything requested of them because they can be overly guarded, or sometimes they don’t always perceive as relevant what the provider perceives as relevant.

Blanchard said it was not appropriate for a forensic psychologist to testify about someone’s potential blood alcohol content, as Spiridigliozzi had during Wilson’s trial, despite having no knowledge of the girl’s height and weight, how much food she’d had to eat and how much alcohol she’d had to drink.

Based on what the girl had self-reported to Spiridigliozzi about her intoxication level that night, he told the jury, he estimated that her blood alcohol levels were about three times the legal limit of .08. On Monday, however, he said surveillance video in the case did not appear to corroborate the girl’s report.

• • •

After the hearing Tuesday, Whalen said he believed the evidence he and Dubin presented was strong.

Butler chose not to give oral closing arguments Tuesday but opted to provide the court with a written statement of the facts and the law in the case. It was not clear when Pokorny might issue her ruling after she receives both sides’ written conclusions in December.

photo by: Mackenzie Clark

Attorney Josh Dubin, standing, begins his closing arguments in a hearing to determine whether his client, Albert Wilson, seated at left, should get a new trial, on Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020, in Douglas County District Court.