A jury in Schuylkill County Court Thursday convicted Hakeem Lee of rape and other offenses related to an incident that happened in March 2024.
It took a jury of 7 men and 5 women a little more than an hour to deliberate over some emotional testimony Wednesday into Thursday before arriving at their decision.
The jury found Lee guilty of rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, and aggravated indecent assault (forcible compulsion), all first-degree felonies; sexual assault and aggravated indecent assault without consent, second-degree felonies; as well as misdemeanors for false imprisonment, indecent assault, and loitering and prowling at night. A not guilty verdict was returned on a charge of strangulation.
“I think the jury got it right,” Assistant District Attorney Mike Stine, who tried the case, told The Canary following the trial. “I’m relieved for the victim and I’m relieved for society in general.”
The victim in this case, a woman from outside New Ringgold who testified that Lee, her ex-boyfriend in an on again-off again relationship, laid in wait for her after she returned home from work on the night of March 21, forced her into her home, and sexually assaulted her.
During the trial, she told jurors that Lee didn’t let her out of her sight the entire night of the attack. But when he eventually passed out, she was able to escape her home to her vehicle in the middle of the night, drive several miles away, and phone State Police to report her attack.
Lee testified in his own defense and tried to paint the victim as lacking credibility, saying her version of the events on the night of March 21 were inaccurate. He told jurors that he believed the victim set him up that night.
In his defense, attorney Chris Riedlinger, of the Schuylkill County Public Defenders Office, pointed to numerous text messages that the victim sent to his client just days prior to the attack. Those texts from her to Lee, generally, promised that she’d do whatever it took to put him in prison for a long time.
When questioned about these texts, the victim said they were in response to prolonged abuse she’d suffered through the course of their relationship. She told jurors that one incident resulted in her suffering a concussion from being hit in the head.
“I thought maybe being a little harsher would make him realize the severity,” she explained.
She said she was the victim of “constant stalking and harassment” in the year prior to the attack last March. Jurors heard that she even slept some nights in her vehicle because she didn’t want to go home.
Riedlinger also pointed to purported conversations between the victim and Lee while he was in Schuylkill County Prison. He presented evidence of at least 125 calls since he was locked up. And he noted the numerous times she deposited money in Lee’s commissary account at the prison.
The victim testified that she recalled “a handful” of phone conversations while Lee was incarcerated and that the money she deposited for him was his.
Regarding the defense’s claim that the victim was making up this story to get back at Lee, Stine said in his closing argument, “That is a bold thing for somebody to do.”
After the trial, Stine praised the victim’s bravery in coming forward and seeing this go to trial.
“No victim wants to get up there and talk about one of the worst nights of their lives in a room full of strangers, when everybody’s staring at them. It’s a very difficult process for them to go through but it’s something we have to do if we want justice,” Stine said.
Schuylkill County Judge James Goodman ordered a pre-sentence investigation be completed and sentencing is scheduled for April 10. Stine said he’ll be seeking a mandatory life sentence for Lee under the state’s “three strikes law.”
Lee previously served time in cases in Bucks and Philadelphia counties.
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