Inmate argues DNA shows consent

A former Duluth man serving a 60-year prison sentence for raping, beating and shooting a masseuse in a Superior massage parlor is aiming for a new trial based on DNA evidence.

Armed with a new attorney, Jamie Dean Jardine, 39, appeared via telephone in Douglas County Court Thursday for a scheduling conference in the 14-year-old case.

Catherine Canright, who represents Jardine, plans to streamline the information he has amassed into a brief that clarifies the issues by March 10. A response brief from Douglas County District Attorney Dan Blank is due April 11.

“Whether we have a hearing or not depends on what the parties file in their briefs,” said Judge Michael Lucci during Thursday’s conference.

Jardine, a veteran of the Persian Gulf War, was convicted of four counts of first-degree sexual assault and one count of attempted first-degree murder for a Nov. 7, 1993, incident at Kady’s Massage Parlor. The masseuse testified that Jardine handcuffed her at gunpoint and sexually assaulted her four times. The woman suffered a severe head injury and was shot in the leg during the incident. Lucci sentenced Jardine to a combined 60 years in prison.

In 2006, Jardine filed a motion to have some of the evidence in the case undergo DNA testing. Semen stains on a sheet and hair on a towel were found to be from four different unidentified men, according to a letter from the State Crime Laboratory in Madison.

Last year, Jardine filed a motion for a new trial based on the test results. The tests prove prostitution took place at the massage parlor and the sex he had with the victim was consensual, he argued in an Aug. 10 letter to Lucci.

“If DNA evidence was available at trial a different result would have occurred ...” wrote Jardine, currently being held at a state prison in Redgranite.

In an Oct. 9 letter to Douglas County District Attorney Dan Blank and Jardine, Lucci wrote that he was “satisfied there is reason to pursue the matter further and that defendant should be assisted by counsel in this process.”

Canright was appointed Jardine’s counsel in January.

The question of whether the case moves forward or stalls out rests in the hands of the attorneys.

“There’s not much I can do at this juncture until I see what the motion is,” Lucci said Thursday.

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