North Central District Court Judge Todd Cresap dismissed a Class AA felony gross sexual imposition charge against Jhalil Kyle Fuquan Means, 28, on Wednesday after Ward County Assistant State’s Attorney Tiffany Sorgen acknowledged that her office had misrepresented facts in the case to the judge at a hearing last December.

Cresap also dismissed Class A felony kidnapping, Class B felony burglary, and Class C felony terrorizing charges against Means.

Means had been accused of twice sexually assaulting at gunpoint a hitchhiker whom he picked up walking along the highway from Velva to Minot on July 7, 2020. Means had acknowledged that he had sexual contact with the woman but said the encounter was consensual.

At past hearings, defense attorney Kyle Craig had pointed out numerous inconsistencies in the account given by the alleged victim that he said called into question her credibility.

Sorgen said in court on Wednesday that she spoke with the alleged victim prior to the hearing and the woman is not upset by the dismissal of the case and just wants to get on with her own life.

In December, Ward County Deputy State’s Attorney Todd Schwarz had asked to continue a trial that had been scheduled for Dec. 14, 2020. Cresap agreed to continue the trial on the basis of Schwarz’s statement, but ordered Means released from jail on an unsecured appearance bond. Craig had objected to continuing the trial, said he was ready to try the case, and asked Cresap to bar the prosecution from putting an expert witness on the stand instead of postponing the trial. Craig said the prosecution should be sanctioned because they have made a habit of not being prepared for trials, being slow in turning over evidence to the defense or of doing so shortly before a trial is set to begin.

Schwarz had failed to notify Craig about the expert witness until Nov. 25, 2020, just a few weeks before the trial was slated to begin. Schwarz told the judge at the hearing that he only planned to call the expert as a rebuttal witness and claimed he hadn’t turned over more information to Craig as required because his office didn’t have it yet. That turned out not to be the case, according to Sorgen, who placed the blame squarely on Schwarz and said other lawyers in her office hadn’t been involved in that decision. Sorgen told the judge that Ward County State’s Attorney Roza Larson removed Schwarz from the Means case after the December hearing and assigned Sorgen to take over prosecution. Sorgen reviewed the case and ultimately agreed with Craig that there was no alternative except to agree to dismiss the charges against Means because his right to a speedy trial had been violated.

Cresap delivered a scathing rebuke to the prosecution and said he will now have to consider whether to report Schwarz and the State’s Attorney’s Office to a disciplinary board.

“This has got to stop at some point,” said Cresap, noting that this is not the first time that he has seen similar behavior from the State’s Attorney’s Office.

Means is presumed innocent but spent months in prison, unable to make bail, and his life has been disrupted since last July. Prosecutors from the Ward County State’s Attorney’s Office routinely ask for high bail that many defendants are unable to afford and allege heinous crimes and concern for the safety of the community as justification. However, this is not the first time this year that serious felony charges have been levied against a defendant only to be dismissed for lack of evidence months later. Cresap asked Sorgen on Wednesday how judges in the North Central Judicial District are supposed to trust that prosecutors are giving an accurate statement of facts when they argue for setting a high bond or denying bond reduction to these defendants.

Cresap said he wanted to hold a public hearing and to put it on the record just why he is signing an order of dismissal of all the charges against Means. Means wiped tears from his eyes and hugged his attorney, Craig, after Cresap said he would dismiss the case.