photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

The Douglas County Judicial and Law Enforcement Center is pictured on Sept. 4, 2024.

The state says the defendant was masturbating at a pool in front of a minor, but his attorneys claim he was innocently “adjusting himself.”

If a Douglas County jury believes prosecutor Adam Carey and the four witnesses he put on the stand Monday, defendant Jay Janicke will be convicted of a felony for a lewd and lascivious act on June 20, 2022, at the swimming pool of The Rockland apartment complex on West 24th Street.

Carey questioned four people who were at the pool that day, including a now 17-year-old who was 12 at the time and whom the man was allegedly staring at. Though their memories varied as to some details, all four recounted seeing an older white man in a lounger at the pool who they believed was masturbating. They described his hand moving underneath a towel over his groin area, and at some point his penis became exposed.

According to witnesses, several adults at the pool confronted the man, told him to leave and called the police. One of the adults said she picked up his bag, which contained multiple liquor bottles, and deposited it outside the pool area.

Only one of the four witnesses on Monday could positively identify Janicke as the man they had seen that day four years ago.

The first witness was never asked to identify Janicke in the courtroom. The second witness, the then-12-year-old, when asked if the man was in the courtroom, looked around and replied “not that I can see.” The third witness said he “couldn’t say for certain.” But the fourth witness, the woman who tossed his bag out, pointed to Janicke at the defense table and said he was the man. She testified that, despite the multiple liquor bottles, she did not believe he was drunk.

“He realized everyone was incredibly angry with him,” she testified, adding that he never denied doing what they had accused him of doing.

Two of the witnesses said he appeared to be afraid and asked not to be hit.

Body-camera footage of Lawrence police officers who responded to the call showed Janicke near the apartment complex shirtless and carrying a towel. When asked to provide ID he did so and acknowledged that he had been at the pool. He was then given a notice to appear. One of the officers decided to not take him to jail because he believed he was intoxicated and that the jail would not accept him.

Public defender Neelie Kramer, in her opening argument, told jurors that “there was no bad action and no bad intent.” The pool-goers had simply made “assumptions” about what her client had been doing in the lounger.

Kramer described Janicke as intoxicated and “hot from the sun.” In response to the discomfort, she said, he simply moved to “adjust himself.”

“There was not a bad act, but an innocent one,” she said.

Kramer and fellow public defender Angelo Panas-Cabrera also sought to discredit the police investigation, emphasizing that officers did not separate witnesses at the scene but let everyone talk in a group, which they implied had tainted statements and recollections. They also argued that it was likely too dark to see much clearly and that a prime witness — surveillance camera footage of the pool area — was not available because police didn’t bother to collect it.

Janicke did not take the stand Monday.

Jurors will hear closing arguments Tuesday morning and then begin their deliberations.