MADISON - In front of his victim and about a dozen of her family members and friends, a Monroe man was sentenced Wednesday in Dane County Circuit Court to five years on probation and six months in jail for sexually assaulting the young woman at a Badgers football game-day party in Madison in 2016.
Zachary VanNatta, 24, took the case to trial. A jury convicted him in February of second-degree sexual assault of an intoxicated victim, a Class C felony that carries a maximum imprisonment of 40 years.
The victim, who was 19 years old at the time of the assault, testified at the jury trial. She spoke again to the court at Wednesday's sentencing.
"I was just a body he was playing with that day," she said of VanNatta. She said she felt powerless during the assault and that if a friend hadn't come in the room and physically intervened, he would have continued.
The assault left her with severe anxiety, nightly panic attacks and frequent flashbacks, she said. Most hurtful, she added, was VanNatta's "silence" in the months that followed and his refusal to plead guilty or show remorse.
But, she concluded, addressing VanNatta directly, "You no longer have any power over me."
By reporting the assault and testifying against him in court, "I hope I was able to stop at least one other person from experiencing what I went through," she said.
She reported the assault to police in the hours after it occurred Sept. 10, 2016, according to police reports filed with the criminal complaint. It was a Saturday football game day, and she went to a house party before the 2:30 p.m. game kick-off.
VanNatta "immediately acquainted himself with me" at the party, she said. His attention set off "red flags," but she put aside her concerns when she found out his girlfriend was at the party. She obliged when he encouraged her to do shots of liquor with him.
But, as a self-identified "lightweight" and infrequent drinker, she soon felt sick. She had a ticket for the football game that afternoon but decided to stay at the house instead and recover. She lay on the couch in the living room and, between vomiting, tried to sleep. VanNatta came and sat next to her.
"He positioned himself as my caregiver," she said. Instead, she later told police, he forced kisses on her and started touching her underneath her clothing, despite her repeated objections.
VanNatta "placed a blanket over her to disguise what he was doing underneath the blanket" from others in the living room, including his sleeping girlfriend, an officer later wrote in a report. Witnesses confirmed this.
She estimated to police that the assault lasted about a half hour before a female friend intervened, made him stop and took her to another room.
In a letter to the court, the victim's mother praised the friend who intervened as well as other women in the house who helped.
"They are my heroes," she wrote. The one who intervened "confronted this man she knew since elementary school and refused to back down from his belligerence."
The woman who intervened, an acquaintance of VanNatta who also grew up in Monroe, wrote the court a lengthy letter about his character, the incident and its aftermath.
"Unfortunately, this kind of event is not uncommon. The damage that it causes, however, leaves a large wake," she wrote. "I believe that this case should serve as an example to other individuals who think they can commit this kind of act without any consequences."
Prosecutor William Leroy Brown noted at Wednesday's sentencing that "young women stood up to make this stop," not men. When he sought witnesses for the trial, "I didn't have any men."
Unlike women, he said, men don't live with the fear that someone may take advantage of them at a party.
"This is the type of crime that makes the public feel unsafe," he said.
Defense attorney Jonas Bednarek asked the judge to consider VanNatta's clean criminal history, his strong family, college degree and volunteer work in the Monroe area. VanNatta's mother and sister wrote the court letters testifying to his helpfulness and his volunteer work with Big Brothers Big Sisters.
Bednarek said VanNatta has already completed a sex offender evaluation and about a year of counseling.
"He's doing what he needs to do," Bednarek said. Bottom line, he added, "Zac VanNatta needs not to drink. If we had removed alcohol from the situation, there would be no situation."
When given an opportunity to speak to the court, VanNatta apologized first to his friends and family, to his girlfriend and then to the victim.
"I know what I did was wrong and I am truly sorry," he said.
Judge William Hanrahan acknowledged that an "untold number of crimes" in his courtroom involve alcohol. He called it society's "No. 1 drug" problem.
But, "it's certainly not a defense here," he said. Ultimately, it was a case of someone exerting control and power over another.
"You saw her. You knew she was extremely vulnerable. You knew what you were doing," he told VanNatta. "This wasn't the alcohol doing this. This was you doing this."
Zachary VanNatta, 24, took the case to trial. A jury convicted him in February of second-degree sexual assault of an intoxicated victim, a Class C felony that carries a maximum imprisonment of 40 years.
The victim, who was 19 years old at the time of the assault, testified at the jury trial. She spoke again to the court at Wednesday's sentencing.
"I was just a body he was playing with that day," she said of VanNatta. She said she felt powerless during the assault and that if a friend hadn't come in the room and physically intervened, he would have continued.
The assault left her with severe anxiety, nightly panic attacks and frequent flashbacks, she said. Most hurtful, she added, was VanNatta's "silence" in the months that followed and his refusal to plead guilty or show remorse.
But, she concluded, addressing VanNatta directly, "You no longer have any power over me."
By reporting the assault and testifying against him in court, "I hope I was able to stop at least one other person from experiencing what I went through," she said.
She reported the assault to police in the hours after it occurred Sept. 10, 2016, according to police reports filed with the criminal complaint. It was a Saturday football game day, and she went to a house party before the 2:30 p.m. game kick-off.
VanNatta "immediately acquainted himself with me" at the party, she said. His attention set off "red flags," but she put aside her concerns when she found out his girlfriend was at the party. She obliged when he encouraged her to do shots of liquor with him.
But, as a self-identified "lightweight" and infrequent drinker, she soon felt sick. She had a ticket for the football game that afternoon but decided to stay at the house instead and recover. She lay on the couch in the living room and, between vomiting, tried to sleep. VanNatta came and sat next to her.
"He positioned himself as my caregiver," she said. Instead, she later told police, he forced kisses on her and started touching her underneath her clothing, despite her repeated objections.
VanNatta "placed a blanket over her to disguise what he was doing underneath the blanket" from others in the living room, including his sleeping girlfriend, an officer later wrote in a report. Witnesses confirmed this.
She estimated to police that the assault lasted about a half hour before a female friend intervened, made him stop and took her to another room.
In a letter to the court, the victim's mother praised the friend who intervened as well as other women in the house who helped.
"They are my heroes," she wrote. The one who intervened "confronted this man she knew since elementary school and refused to back down from his belligerence."
The woman who intervened, an acquaintance of VanNatta who also grew up in Monroe, wrote the court a lengthy letter about his character, the incident and its aftermath.
"Unfortunately, this kind of event is not uncommon. The damage that it causes, however, leaves a large wake," she wrote. "I believe that this case should serve as an example to other individuals who think they can commit this kind of act without any consequences."
Prosecutor William Leroy Brown noted at Wednesday's sentencing that "young women stood up to make this stop," not men. When he sought witnesses for the trial, "I didn't have any men."
Unlike women, he said, men don't live with the fear that someone may take advantage of them at a party.
"This is the type of crime that makes the public feel unsafe," he said.
Defense attorney Jonas Bednarek asked the judge to consider VanNatta's clean criminal history, his strong family, college degree and volunteer work in the Monroe area. VanNatta's mother and sister wrote the court letters testifying to his helpfulness and his volunteer work with Big Brothers Big Sisters.
Bednarek said VanNatta has already completed a sex offender evaluation and about a year of counseling.
"He's doing what he needs to do," Bednarek said. Bottom line, he added, "Zac VanNatta needs not to drink. If we had removed alcohol from the situation, there would be no situation."
When given an opportunity to speak to the court, VanNatta apologized first to his friends and family, to his girlfriend and then to the victim.
"I know what I did was wrong and I am truly sorry," he said.
Judge William Hanrahan acknowledged that an "untold number of crimes" in his courtroom involve alcohol. He called it society's "No. 1 drug" problem.
But, "it's certainly not a defense here," he said. Ultimately, it was a case of someone exerting control and power over another.
"You saw her. You knew she was extremely vulnerable. You knew what you were doing," he told VanNatta. "This wasn't the alcohol doing this. This was you doing this."