‘Not guilty’ verdict reached in rape trial

BONNERS FERRY — After a three-day jury trial, a Sandpoint man was found not guilty Sept. 13 on a rape charge tied to allegations stemming from a 2019 incident.

Brandon Michael Watterson, 41, was charged for an alleged incident involving a youth that allegedly took place in November or December 2019, when she was 14 years old.

The alleged victim, now 17, had already taken Watterson to court for child enticing in 2021, in which he received a plea agreement and instead the charge of injury to a child in Bonner County. He was at a parole hearing when he was informed of the new charges.

In the prior case, Watterson did not deny that he and the victim had kissed and their messages on social media had, at times, been of a sexual nature.

During the previous case, the alleged victim had said only a kiss had transpired between Watterson and herself when questioned by law enforcement. Officers inquired if more physical contact had occurred, but the alleged victim said that was all that had happened on multiple occasions.

In 2022, the alleged victim then claimed that an alleged rape took place, but that she had only recently “recovered” the memory.

The mother then contacted local law enforcement.

At the trial on Sept. 12, Boundary County Sheriff's Office Detective Caleb Watts testified when he was contacted by the mother about the alleged rape, that the accused was not Watterson but someone else.

It wasn’t until Watts was observing the victim in a forensic interview and confession by the alleged victim, that he was informed that Watterson was the accused and not the youth’s father. He testified there had been other sexual allegations against the father in regard to the victim’s siblings during the custody battle and divorce, but that nothing was found.

On the stand the youth’s mother testified she had informed law enforcement that she had misinterpreted her daughter’s statement on who had allegedly raped her.

The youth testified she reported the alleged incident after being in counseling when “memories” of the alleged rape “flooded back” in late 2021 to early 2022. She said she recalled she remembered the alleged rape the next morning. While she testified she saw Watterson the next morning, she said that she forgot or blocked out the alleged rape.

At the end of the trial’s second day, the defense under Chief Deputy Public Defender Catherine E. Enright played the audio from the forensic interview.

The youth brought up Watterson’s plea deal for child endangerment in which he was sentenced to three to seven years instead of the possible 15 years. He did not have to register as a sex offender.

“In a way I don’t feel justice has been served [in the previous case],” she said in the forensic interview.

That proved that the youth was being vindictive against Watterson, Enright said.

Expert witnesses were brought in by both the prosecution and the defense to share knowledge on children divulging abuse later and the likelihood of memories being recovered.

For the prosecution, Sarah Russell, a counselor and speaker, said from her experience in the field many child victims do not divulge right away and won’t when interviewed by people they know, such as law enforcement.

For the defense, Dr. Jonathan Schooler, a cognitive psychologist, said from his reading and his research that memories can be distorted and transformed over time. He noted that after counseling, exposure to suggestions from interviews or even reading or watching television can distort memory and even fabricate complete memories.

“Memories are more like stories that get re-told and re-written every time they are told,” he said, discounting the thought that memories are exact and precise like film.

Enright said the youth was inspired to make the claim by outside influences, suggestions by counseling, cases in the media and by vindictiveness.

After deliberating for approximately two hours and 22 minutes, the jury unanimously found Watterson not guilty of the rape charge.

Due to the printing deadline, a story on the court case was not published in last week’s Herald, rather an announcement of the not guilty verdict was released instead.