A 27-year-old man accused of sexually assaulting his next-door neighbor, a 34-year-old Durango woman, at knifepoint will go to trial Jan. 26.
At a preliminary hearing on Tuesday, District County Judge Jeffery Wilson said Wayne Baty will be tried on all charges related to the crime, including several felonies – sexual assault, sexual contact without consent, first-degree burglary and menacing. The charges include misdemeanors: soliciting prostitution, criminal mischief and four counts of being a habitual criminal.
La Plata County Sheriff’s Office investigator Peter Berryhill testified that deputies responded about 12:35 a.m. July 19 to the victim’s residence near Elmore’s Corner, where she appeared tired and fearful.
Berryhill said an investigation determined Baty, who was staying with his then-girlfriend, visited the victim’s home unsolicited and asked to share a beer on the front porch. The two spoke for some time until Baty left after the victim rebuffed his alleged offer of $100 in return for sex.
The victim went inside and locked the door, Berryhill said, and moments later, in her bedroom, she saw something out of the corner of her eye.
“She thought it was one of her friends, then realized there was a man coming up the staircase right toward her,” Perryhill said.
Baty is accused of returning to her home wearing two bandanas covering his face and wielding a knife. He allegedly grabbed the victim by the hair and put the knife to her throat. When the victim did not comply with the assailant’s demand that she take off her clothes, he cut her shirt and bra off with a knife, resulting in a small cut. He threw her on the bed and began forcibly fondling her breasts.
“She was pleading with Mr. Baty not to hurt her because she has kids,” Perryhill said. “He asked for proof she had children, and she pointed to pictures on her wall.”
Baty allegedly dragged her downstairs, and the victim, still at knifepoint, explained that her boyfriend would soon be home. Baty then alledgedly handed the knife to the victim and asked her to stab him. She refused, and he ran out the back door.
Briefly taking the stand, the victim, in tears, said Baty then returned to her residence in different clothes and tried to “come back in my home as a concerned neighbor.”
Sheriff’s Office deputies detained Baty, who they described as “highly intoxicated,” at gunpoint at his then-girlfriend’s house. Baty misidentified himself as “Wayne Phillips,” but after obtaining a warrant, officers found his proper identification, a knife and two bandanas the same color the victim described.
Defense Attorney Amy Smith argued that there were discrepancies in the description of Baty’s attire, but Judge Wilson said the suspected assailant would be tried on all charges.
“His voice (and eyes) were the same,” the victim said. “That’s how I knew it was the same person.”
District Attorney Christian Champagne said, if found guilty, Baty could be put away “for a very long time.”
Baty, handcuffed and in an orange jumpsuit, broke his expressionless demeanor as he was escorted out of the courtroom in tears and taken back to jail by a sheriff’s deputy. His next appearance will be at 9 a.m. Jan. 26, when he also will be tried in three additional cases for attempted burglary, tampering with a witness and a separate case of sexual assault.
jromeo@durangoherald.com
