Ransom convicted of rape, kidnapping

SANDPOINT — A Bonner County jury convicted a Blanchard man Friday of kidnapping and raping his former girlfriend.

Joe Frederick Ransom showed no outward reaction as a 1st District Court clerk announced the unanimous verdicts reached by the jury of seven men and five women.

Bonner County Prosecutor Louis Marshall moved for Ransom to be held without bail while awaiting sentencing because of the prospect of lengthy incarceration, Ransom’s lengthy criminal record and his ties to a white supremacist gang rooted in the Florida prison system called the Unforgiven.

“The presumption of innocence has absolutely been extinguished,” Marshall added.

Deputy Public Defender Susie Jensen objected to her client being held without bail because Ransom had no meaningful hope of posting the $250,000 bail he’s already being held on.

Judge Barbara Buchanan granted the state’s motion, pointing out that Ransom faces lifelong incarceration on each of the charges.

Ransom, 54, asked the court if he was eligible for lethal injection, but did so in a tone that suggested he was not necessarily dreading such an outcome. Although Idaho has carried out lethal injections, Buchanan advised Ransom that he was ineligible.

Ransom is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 12.

Jurors began deliberating the case on Thursday afternoon. The jury broke for the evening and resumed deliberations on Friday morning. By noon, the panel had reached their verdicts.

Ransom was accused of attacking the woman at her remote cabin near Spirit Lake on April 23 after closing down a bar. The woman, 51, told jurors that Ransom backhanded her en route the cabin as punishment for seeing another man. She further testified that Ransom said he had already planned her death and that he beat her and ultimately raped her.

Ransom took the stand in his own defense to refute the charges, but admitted backhanding her after she allegedly spit in his face.

Marshall contrasted the alleged victim’s detailed and bizarre account, which included Ransom trying to goad her into killing him and someone else who owed him money, with Ransom’s bare bones account, which amounted to him sleeping in his truck after striking her.

Marshall argued that if the victim’s account was fabricated, it would take Meryl Streep-caliber acting and a high degree of determination to submit to a lengthy and invasive rape examination. Marshall added that the woman’s account never charged, whereas Ransom’s did.

“She did resist. She told him, ‘no.’ She pleaded for her life. He had a knife to her as he was doing this,” said Marshall.

Jensen told jurors that physical evidence was conspicuously absent in the case.

“It’s easy to say rape and it should be easy to show evidence to support that claim — DNA, semen, hair, defensive wounds. There’s none of that,” said Jensen.

Marshall countered on rebuttal that Ransom was unable to complete sexual intercourse and that the rape exam discovered a 3-milimeter tear and contusions to her genitals.

After the trial, Marshall said he was thankful that the jurors took the case seriously.

“Joe Ransom is a violent criminal with a horrible history and ties to a Southeastern white supremacist prison gang. The victim in this case was terrified from the first day she came forward that he would get out and finish the job of killing her. Bonner County is a safer place with this man behind bars,” Marshall said.

Jurors were ostensibly unaware of Ransom’s violent past. He was prosecuted for attempted second-degree murder, kidnapping, robbery and aggravated assault in Escambia County, Fla., in 1996, according to the Florida Department of Corrections.

He was convicted and sentenced to 21 years in prison in 2006. He was released in 2014, the Florida corrections website said.

Ransom’s prior criminal history was kept from jurors as they heard the case.