Friday, October 24, 2008 9:17 PM CDT
Bonnstetter: I didn't realize where I was
By DAVE FOPAY, Staff Writer
dfopay@jg-tc.com
CHARLESTON — Mark Bonnstetter told jurors Thursday that he didn’t realize he was in a neighbor woman’s home until she and her boyfriend turned on the bedroom lights and found him there.
The Eastern Illinois University associate athletic director testified at his trial on charges accusing him of entering the woman’s home and trying to fondle her while she was sleeping on Nov. 25, 2006. He said he told a police officer after the incident that he went to the house to check if everything was OK, but said Thursday he actually only remembers parts of the incident.
He said he was certain, however, that he didn’t touch the woman because that would be “so contrary to something I would do.”
Bonnstetter, 40, 20 Woodfield Lane is being tried on felony charges of trespassing and residential burglary and a misdemeanor charge of attempted criminal sexual abuse.
Earlier in the trial, the now-20-year-old woman said she woke after feeling someone touch her under her pajama pants, and she and her boyfriend then found Bonnstetter on the floor of the bedroom.
Bonnstetter’s attorneys will try to convince the jury that he was sleepwalking at the time and his entering the house and whatever he did there wasn’t intentional, and that he couldn’t have really known anyone was there. Medical experts are expected to testify today about his condition.
On Thursday, Bonnstetter said he was under a great deal of stress from the combination of his recently starting a new job, preparing for EIU’s football playoff game that weekend and the recent birth of a child. He said he remembered falling asleep early in the morning and the next thing he remembered was “voices” and “I was in a bedroom.”
He said he then apologized to the woman and her boyfriend and returned to his own home. He said he wasn’t concerned about what happened at that point.
Bonnstetter later told Charleston police office Tony West that he went to the house because he was concerned because lights were on and the front door was open. During his testimony, he said he based his recollections of what happened before he woke in the woman’s bedroom on “bits and pieces” of what he was told later.
“It’s a very confusing time for me,” Bonnstetter said. “I’m trying to put together something that’s very complicated to me.”
He said he was certain he never touched the woman, and defense attorney Raipher Pellegrino then asked why he was “so emphatic” about that detail.
“It’s so bizarre,” Bonnstetter replied. “It’s so unusual. It’s so contrary to something I would do. I just don’t understand it.”
During cross examination, Assistant State’s Attorney Mick McAvoy tried to pin down Bonnstetter on what kinds of things he really remembers and what he assumes happened after a sleepwalking instance.
At one point, Bonnstetter said part of what he told West that he remembered about the incident was because of “prompting,” based on things he was told about it. He said, for example, that was why he told West he went to the house to check on it when he actually believes he was sleepwalking at that point.
“I was rationalizing,” he said. “I was trying to make sense of something that doesn’t make sense. Just because I have a memory, unless it’s validated, I have no idea if it’s right or not.”
Bonnstetter also told of other, earlier sleepwalking instances, including a time when his wife found him looking out a window and he told her he saw an intruder with a knife.
“She panicked and I went back to bed,” he said.
Bonnstetter’s wife Laurie also testified Thursday, recalling other sleepwalking incidents and telling the jury how he tries to make sense out of what he did when he’s told about it.
“Mark always has a vague recollection of what happened,” she said. “He’ll try to piece together what happened.”
The defense’s case could end today with the testimony of the medical experts and following that, the prosecution will have a chance to present rebuttal evidence. McAvoy indicated earlier that a witness might testify about how Bonnstetter’s behavior doesn’t fit with the symptoms of sleepwalking. The trial is expected to end early next week.
Contact Dave Fopay at dfopay@jg-tc.com or 348-5733.
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mdt1234 wrote on Oct 23, 2008 9:09 PM: