Jeremy Giefer charges dismissed as victim recants sexual assault allegations

Jeremy Giefer's sexual assault charges were dropped today

​Sexual assault charges against Jeremy Giefer were dropped this morning following the victim's recantation.

Giefer was scheduled to go on trial next Monday on charges he raped his daughter multiple times over the years.

Assistant Blue Earth County Attorney Mike Hanson tells City Pages that the victim has recanted twice in the past two weeks. Last Friday, Hanson brought her into his office to hear what she had to say.

"She said none of the allegations were true," Hanson said.

Without her testimony, Hanson couldn't prove the allegations of sexual assault against Giefer beyond a reasonable doubt so he dropped the charges.

Hanson declined to say whether he believed the victim's recantation.

Tim Pawlenty pardoned Giefer for a previous sex crime

But Hanson did say he was "very disappointed by what has transpired in the past couple of weeks."

The Blue Earth County attorney's office has no plans to continue pursuing the case.

Giefer's charges provoked a firestorm of controversy for Tim Pawlenty last fall, as Giefer had received a pardon from Pawlenty in a previous case. Giefer was first charged with statutory rape in 1993, when he was 19, for fathering a child with a 14-year-old girlfriend. He pleaded guilty and served a 45-day sentence.

Fifteen years later, Giefer requested a pardon extraordinary for his crimes. His argument was that he had married the victim and raised their child together, so he shouldn't have to deal with the stigma of being a sex offender.

A committee including Pawlenty granted Giefer a pardon in 2008.

Two years later, Giefer was charged with 11 counts of sexual misconduct in this case, which has now been dismissed.

Previous

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