Tim Ryan, tryan@wolfrivermedia.com
Leader Photo by Tim Ryan Darwin Davis, center, is flanked by private investigator Michael Bredlau, left, and defense attorney Paul Zilles during Davis’ trial this week in Shawano-Menominee County Circuit Court on multiple charges of sexual assault of a child.
Testimony got underway Monday in the jury trial of a former Shawano bar operator accused of having a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old girl and trying to enlist his children to lie in his defense.
Darwin R. Davis, 48, who ran the Final Lap Tavern in Shawano, is accused of having sexual intercourse with the girl in the basement of the tavern and on multiple occasions at his home in the town of Wescott in 2012.
He is charged with five counts of second-degree sexual assault of a child and one count of repeated sexual assault of the same child, as well as felony possession of marijuana. He also faces two misdemeanor counts of contributing to the delinquency of a child and one of obstructing an officer.
It took all of Monday morning to select a jury from about 90 potential jurors, partly due to the publicity that has been generated because of the bar’s connection with a Shawano woman who went missing more than two years ago.
Heather Szekeres, 32, disappeared after last being seen at the Final Lap in June 2013. Remains found in a wooded area in the town of Richmond in May 2014 were eventually identified as hers. The case remains under investigation.
Szekeres was initially expected to be a witness in Davis’ sexual assault trial, but that has not been brought up at the trial. Authorities have not indicated any connection between the incidents.
Assistant District Attorney Catharine White warned the jury that they would hear explicit and emotional testimony over the course of the trial, which is expected to last through Friday.
“In many ways, this is going to be a difficult trial for you to listen to,” she said. “This is not a pretty story. It’s a very sad story. And it’s going to be hard for a lot of witnesses in this case, who are still very young and going to come and talk to you about what happened.”
In his opening statement, defense counsel Paul Zilles told the jury they would be hearing differing versions of what happened — sometimes from the same witnesses who changed their stories over the course of the investigation.
“Like anything, there are two sides to a story,” he said. “There’s going to be a lot of questions left in your mind.”
Jurors heard Monday afternoon from the mother of the girl and the girl.
The mother testified that a doctor’s examination in December 2012 showed the 15-year-old had been sexually active.
The girl testified she initially fabricated a story to protect Davis, with whom she said she had developed a bond. She later recanted and told authorities that she had been having sex with Davis.
Zilles zeroed in on her conflicting accounts in cross-examination, and questioned the girl over discrepancies in her diary entries and dates the alleged activity took place.
Jurors on Tuesday heard from Davis’ children, who were 11 and 13 at the time and were living with him.
They initially told authorities they had never seen anything suspicious between their father and the girl, but later came forward to say their father had asked them to lie.
One of the children said she caught the two engaged in sexual activity after she and her brother had been sent outside to rake leaves.
According to the criminal complaint, the children’s mother told authorities that Davis had sent threatening text messages “to be sure that the children would testify and lie in court.”
Jurors also heard from several witnesses who testified that Davis admitted to them that he was having sexual relations with the girl.
The witnesses included Robert Szekeres and Laurie Waddell, who worked for Davis at the bar. Szekeres is the husband and Waddell is the mother of Heather Szekeres.
Waddell was asked at one point whether she liked Davis, who had been a friend of hers.
“I don’t like the kind of person he is,” she said.
Much of the testimony over the first two days of the trial focused on a cell phone that Davis allegedly purchased for the girl and text messages, including some sexual in nature, that were exchanged between the two.
Testimony was expected to resume Wednesday.
If convicted, Davis could face a maximum 40 years in prison and $100,000 fine on each of the sex assault charges.
According to court records, Davis was previously convicted of second-degree sexual assault of a child in Langlade County in 1994 and was sentenced to five years in prison.