Friday, October 24, 2008 10:31 PM CDT
Bonnstetter sleep experts testify
By ROB STROUD, Staff Writer
rstroud@jg-tc.com
CHARLESTON — Mark Bonnstetter could have been sleepwalking on the night when he entered a woman’s home and allegedly tried to touch her, two sleep studies professionals testified Friday.
Bonnstetter, who is Eastern Illinois University’s associate athletic director, is being tried on felony charges of trespassing and residential burglary and a misdemeanor charge of attempted criminal sexual abuse. His defense is that he was sleepwalking at the time of the alleged incident on Nov. 25, 2006, in Charleston.
The jury heard testimony Friday from Dr. Rosaline Cartwright, retired director of the Sleep Disorder Services and Research Center at Rush University in Chicago, and Dr. Donald Greeley from the Carle Sleep Center in Urbana. Both were witnesses for the defense.
Bonnstetter, 40, 20 Woodfield Lane in Charleston, submitted to a polysomnigram last year that monitored his brain wave, heart rate, breathing and muscle movement activity as he slept at Cartwright’s lab.
Cartwright said the results of this test, including Bonnstetter’s having trouble achieving and maintaining deep sleep, led her to diagnose him as having parasomnia, a sleep disorder than can result in sleepwalking.
“The lab can’t tell you anything about Nov 25, 2006,” said Assistant State’s Attorney Mick McAvoy during cross examination
Cartwright responded, “No, but it is another piece of evidence about how (Bonnstetter) sleeps.”
Bonnstetter told jurors Thursday that he did not realize he was in the home of the woman, now 20, until she and her boyfriend turned on the bedroom lights and found him there.
According to Bonnstetter’s police statement, he went to the home because of his concerns about the front door being open and lights on during the early morning hours. In court, Bonnstetter has said his memories of that night are unclear and may be based on what he has heard others say about the incident.
Earlier in the trial, the woman said she woke after feeling someone touch her under her pajama pants, and she and her boyfriend then found Bonnstetter on the bedroom floor. Bonnstetter told jurors he is certain he didn’t touch the woman because that would be “so contrary to something I would do.”
Cartwright said sleepwalkers can carry out many complex tasks, such as cooking or trying to repair equipment, while the rational portions of their minds are not functioning.
The sleep specialist said sleepwalkers’ activities are typically limited to the basic human motivations of aggression, caretaking, eating and procreation. She said Bonnstetter’s activities Nov. 25, 2006, fall into the caretaking category, noting he was responsible for watching out for the homes of some of his neighbors.
Cartwright said Bonnstetter has a family history of sleepwalking. She said stress from his new job and the birth of a new child could have triggered his sleepwalking on the night of the incident.
McAvoy said he has read scientific studies that state sleepwalkers typically do not recognize the faces of people from their lives while in this state, which Cartwright said is correct.
Previous testimony has indicated Bonnstetter called the woman by her name when she saw that he was in the bedroom, McAvoy said.
Dr. Greeley, who specializes in sleep medicine at Carle Clinic in Urbana, said he interviewed Bonnstetter on Dec. 15, 2006, for sleep disorder diagnosis and found that the episode Bonnstetter described happening on Nov. 25, 2006, is compatible with sleepwalking.
“I felt that is what happened. He was sleepwalking at the time,” Greeley said. He added Bonnstetter described sleepwalking on previous occasions and short-term memory loss during those occasions.
The trial is scheduled to continue Monday morning with rebuttal witnesses from McAvoy. Bonnstetter is free on bond; prison time is mandatory in most cases for a conviction for residential burglary, but a prison sentence wouldn’t be required for the other charges.
Contact Rob Stroud at rstroud@jg-tc.com or 348-5734.
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85CHSGrad wrote on Oct 24, 2008 10:39 PM:
Mandatory for most? Not for all?
Does the law just flex like that every once in a while? "