Mark Chmura Trial Set To Begin

WAUKESHA, Wis. (AP) â€” Mark Chmura goes to trial Tuesday, charged with sexually assaulting his children's former baby sitter at a high school party. <br><br>The 31-year-old former Green Bay Packers

Tuesday, January 23rd 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

WAUKESHA, Wis. (AP) â€” Mark Chmura goes to trial Tuesday, charged with sexually assaulting his children's former baby sitter at a high school party.

The 31-year-old former Green Bay Packers star has pleaded innocent to felony charges of third-degree sexual assault and child enticement.

The trial will take place in suburban Waukesha. Jury selection begins Tuesday in Janesville, less than a two-hour drive from Milwaukee.

The prom party on April 9, 2000, was held at the Hartland home of Robert Gessert, Chmura's friend.

Gessert, 43, has pleaded innocent to charges of second-degree sexual assault and fourth-degree sexual assault involving an 18-year-old woman at the same party.

Chmura is accused of assault by a 17-year-old girl. The girl's mother said she was enraged when she learned of what supposedly happened at the party.

``So I said, 'Who is he, because I'm going to kill him,''' she said in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Monday. ``I wanted to shoot him. And we do have a gun in our house.''

The daughter's name has been withheld because of the nature of the case, and the newspaper did not identify the mother.

High school football player Michael Kleber initially told police he saw the 17-year-old girl enter a bathroom after Chmura with a ``smile.'' But in a revised statement a month later he made no reference to seeing the girl follow Chmura into the bathroom.

Kleber said at a hearing Monday he gave the revised statement to authorities because he was scared of getting in trouble for drinking at a party.

Chmura lawyer Gerald Boyle said the second statement by Michael Kleber was coerced and he wants it banned as evidence. Judge Mark Gempeler said he will rule on the request after a jury is selected.

The mother said her family doesn't plan to sue Chmura for damages if he is convicted.

Her daughter testified during a preliminary hearing in May that she entered the bathroom after Chmura gestured to her and called her over. The mother said her daughter told her she didn't yell or fight Chmura in the bathroom because ``he was so big'' and she was in shock.

Chmura's lawyers plan to argue that the girl's hymen was intact after the party, proving he didn't assault her. Prosecutors contend it is not unusual for the hymen to remain intact after a sexual assault.

The mother said her daughter is studying at a college where the case receives little attention.