Case against man accused of raping woman in St. Paul 20 years ago dismissed

A year after formal charges were filed against a man who was accused of raping a woman in St. Paul back in 2003, a judge has ordered his case to be dismissed.

The defense for Shawn Skie, now 49, filed a motion to dismiss in June, citing due process pre-charge delay, the statute of limitations and as a sanction for the State destroying evidence, according to court documents. Ramsey County Judge Kellie Charles granted the motion on Sept. 30.

As reported by 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS last October, Skie was charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct. He was accused of drugging and raping a friend who had gone to a bar near Stryker Avenue and Dodd Road in December of 2003, to say goodbye before Skie moved to California.

Charging documents stated the woman reported having two drinks at the bar but then became lightheaded and disoriented and only remembered ending up in a car with Skie, unable to stop him from raping her. Eventually, after Skie had left, she was able to call a friend for help and was taken to a hospital, where she underwent a sex assault exam.

The woman also realized that all of her items from her purse were scattered across the floor of her truck and $2,000 in cash was missing. Other friends later learned that Skie had claimed a girl just gave him the cash.

Documents filed in Ramsey County court show a timeline of the investigation, which began on Dec. 29, 2003. The victim identified Skie as the suspect and told police about his plans to move to California, but he may be staying with his child’s mother or with his brother. Although police issued a “pick up and hold” for the next 24 hours — which would detain a suspect for further investigation and questioning — police didn’t try to find Skie at either known address provided to them by the victim.

The victim then went through a sexual assault examination at the hospital on Dec. 29, and the kit was collected by St. Paul police from the hospital the following day. Inside the kit were swabs taken from the victim, an envelope full of photos taken of the victim, film, a blood kit, a urine kit for drug screening, clothing and the examination report, according to documents.

On. Jan. 15, 2004, a follow-up interview was done with the victim by St. Paul police, who were again provided names of people who may know where Skie was. The victim told police she would call back with additional contact and location information, but didn’t, the documents state.

In November of that year, police received drug lab results from the BCA, which didn’t show any alcohol in the victim’s system, and the only drug shown in the results was THC. The next month, a report from the BCA showed there was male DNA on the swabs taken from the victim, and an analysis could be done with Skie’s DNA if it was submitted.

However, court documents say at that time, the agency’s policy stated it didn’t move forward with DNA testing unless they already had a known suspect sample due to the database’s small size. That policy later changed due to the growth of the database, which was done in response to legal changes.

In January 2005, the victim told police Skie had contacted her on the phone multiple times and told officers she was positive he was living at an apartment next to the then-Brown Derby Bar, according to the dismissal document. Later that same month, police issued another pick-up and hold for Skie, and police referred the case to the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office for formal charging.

A few days later, a denial of charges was sent to police from former County Attorney James Konen, who said there was insufficient evidence. Although a copy of that letter hasn’t been found, notes from the police report cite the BCA’s drug test, disconnected phone numbers and the suspect hadn’t been found to do a DNA test.

Fast forward to January 2008, and Skie’s DNA was uploaded to a database due to a sentencing order for a different case. In September of 2009, the sex assault kit was returned to St. Paul police by the BCA, who kept the swabs, as well as blood and urine samples. However, all other items in the kit were destroyed by the police department at that time due to the Ramsey County Attorney’s Uniform Evidence Retention Policy, according to the dismissal document.

No movement in the case was done for about 14 years, despite Skie being in contact with multiple metro-area police departments and living in the area.

After the state received grants for the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative, the BCA contacted St. Paul Police in June of 2022 to find cases where DNA profiling was needed even though tests were done. The document goes on to say a list was provided in early September of 2022, with priority cases highlighted, of which Skie’s wasn’t.

Nearly a year later — in August of 2023 — a match with Skie’s sample taken in 2008 was recorded. The next month, police did more interviews with the victim, as well as two other witnesses. The victim, according to court documents, told police about a possible home address for Skie, but the dismissal shows police didn’t try to find him.

During an interview with a witness, police were told that due to the alleged crime happening nearly 20 years ago, it was difficult to remember. Court documents say police had that witness’ name, address and phone number in 2003, but didn’t interview him. Another person who was interviewed at this time claimed Skie “bragged” about robbing the victim, but also wasn’t interviewed during the initial investigation, according to the document.

The owners of the Brown Derby Bar in 2003 spoke with police in January of 2024, and although they had a surveillance video system installed in the bar that year, that footage is no longer available.