Washington mayor’s trial date pushed back

WASHINGTON — Washington Mayor Jaron Rosien’s day in court has been rescheduled, according to public records and people familiar with proceedings in a case where he is accused of third degree sexual abuse.

Court records filed Friday morning after a pretrial conference said a second such conference would be held Aug. 11, saying both parties agreed to the change and that “discovery is ongoing.” Rosien also has new jury trial dates, listed in Washington on Sept. 12 and 13 at 9 a.m. and 8 a.m., respectively. The trial was originally scheduled for just one day in mid-July.

Approached after leaving the judge’s chambers Friday morning from the first pretrial conference, defense attorney Eric Tindal — who represents Rosien in the case — said such adjustments were “not uncommon.”

He added that pretrial conferences were usually uneventful scheduling meetings, playing out in private chambers except for rare cases where an attorney raised a major objection.

“As a rule of thumb, very little happens at pretrial conferences,” he said. “Basically pretrial conferences of most stripes, not just this case, are just, ‘OK, where are we at?’”

The Aug. 11 pretrial can be attended by the parties “only via GoTo Meeting,” according to an order signed by Judge Crystal Cronk.

  Buy Photo

The state’s representative attended Friday morning’s meeting remotely via the same platform, according to publicly accessible court records. One of those, filed the day before Friday’s conference, said Assistant Attorney General Keisha Cretsinger, “has a hearing set for the same morning in another matter and is unavailable to attend the pretrial conference in person.”

Cretsinger was picked as the state’s attorney of record for the case earlier this month, after the original prosecutor, then-Assistant Attorney General Maureen Hughes, withdrew from her role on June 6. Court documents said Hughes had “accepted another position and will be leaving the Attorney General’s Office.”

Rosien has pleaded not guilty to the charges, which are a Class C felony. His accuser, identified as “AB” in a partially redacted affidavit from the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, claims that Rosien made unwanted sexual contact with him at a bar owned by the mayor in January. The mayor began a voluntary unpaid leave of absence from his municipal position in early February after the charges were announced, but has not resigned.

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com