photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

Shelton Lane Robertson is pictured Sept. 23, 2024, in Douglas County District Court.

A Lawrence man who is accused of raping a young girl was ordered on Wednesday to stand trial in Douglas County District Court.

Shelton Lane Robertson, 22, is charged with one felony count of rape. The charge, filed in July 2023, relates to an incident on July 31, 2021, involving a girl born in 2010. The charge is an off-grid felony, meaning that if Robertson is convicted he could be sentenced to life in prison.

Judge Amy Hanley ordered Robertson to stand trial after a two-part preliminary hearing. The first part was in July and the second was in September.

Senior Assistant District Attorney Ricardo Leal said that the girl testified at the first hearing that Robertson had raped her. Leal said that her story was corroborated in the second hearing by multiple witnesses who said that they discovered Robertson in bed with the girl and that the girl’s underwear was on the floor and she was covered in hickeys.

Robertson’s attorney, Angela Keck, said that the court should not find probable cause in the case because the girl initially denied that Robertson had raped her, and because of her statements, a sexual assault kit was not performed after the alleged incident. Keck said that other statements the girl had made to police were inconsistent with her testimony in court. Keck said that the matter of inconsistent statements was exacerbated by the fact that police had failed to preserve a video of the first interview the girl gave to police.

“All we have is vague statements,” Keck said.

Hanley said that what the girl testified to in court was not vague and that the girl clearly stated that Robertson had raped her.

After Robertson was ordered to stand trial, Keck asked Hanley to modify Robertson’s $150,000 own-recognizance bond. Robertson has been on house arrest with a GPS monitor since January. Keck asked that Robertson be allowed to visit family during the holidays and to visit his sick grandfather. Hanley said that she would check with Robertson’s pretrial supervisor and that if there was not an issue with monitoring Robertson, she would modify his bond for the holidays.

Robertson is next scheduled to appear in court on Dec. 13, to be arraigned on the charge and for the parties to set a trial date.