Authorities drop some charges against Marshfield Fair rape suspect

August 21, 2008 06:23 PM Email| Comments (0)| Text size – +

By David Abel, GLOBE STAFF

Acknowledging that they have insufficient evidence, prosecutors today dropped several charges against an 18-year-old Marshfield Fair carnival worker accused of raping two girls last weekend.

Authorities said they did not have enough to go on to charge Jeffrey D. Witham of Oxford, Maine, with assaulting and forcefully raping a 14-year-old girl or assaulting and kidnapping a 13-year-old girl.

Witham remains accused of statutory rape against the older girl and forcefully raping the younger girl.

Bridget Norton Middleton, a spokeswoman for the Plymouth District Attorney’s office, said prosecutors were dropping the charges "in the interest of justice."

The move came a day after the older girl changed her story and said she consented to having sex with Witham. Prosecutors said the younger girl told investigators that, contrary to her previous account, she was not chased, bitten, or kidnapped by Witham. But the younger girl continues to maintain that Witham raped her, even though the older girl has cast doubt on whether that rape occurred.

Middleton said prosecutors will appear in Brockton Superior Court tomorrow to ask a judge to release Witham from jail. He is being held on $150,000 bail. On Wednesday, a Plymouth District Court judge refused to release Witham before prosecutors revised their charges.

Kate Iaccarino, a lawyer representing Witham, said she “wholeheartedly agrees” with prosecution efforts to have Witham released from jail. Neither she nor prosecutors would say whether the other charges would be dismissed.