{"id":15867,"date":"2025-10-31T19:25:20","date_gmt":"2025-11-01T01:25:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/defense-questions-witness-in-sex-assault-trial-of-ex-tribal-leader-lyndreth-wall\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:52:00","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:52:00","slug":"defense-questions-witness-in-sex-assault-trial-of-ex-tribal-leader-lyndreth-wall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/defense-questions-witness-in-sex-assault-trial-of-ex-tribal-leader-lyndreth-wall\/","title":{"rendered":"Defense questions witness in sex-assault trial of ex-tribal leader Lyndreth Wall"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Lyndreth
Lyndreth Wall, Ute Mountain Ute tribal councilman, attended a meeting with U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CD3) on Saturday at the Ute Mountain Ute Casino to discuss H.R. 8601, a companion bill to another piece of legislation in the U.S. Senate that would protect wildlife and water and land rights in the Dolores River Corridor. (Christian Burney\/Durango Herald)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Editor\u2019s Note: This story contains court testimonies and language regarding allegations of sexual assault and rape. If you or someone you may know has experienced an assault or rape and would like help, please call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at (800) 656-4673 or contact SASO Durango, the Sexual Assault Services Organization offers a 24-hour, confidential support line at 970-247-5400.<\/em><\/p>\n

The focus Friday in Durango\u2019s courtroom centered on one woman\u2019s account of sexual abuse.<\/p>\n

The defense team for Lyndreth Wall spent hours comparing the original details she gave the FBI with her narrative on the witness stand. Prosecutors countered by playing the original 52-minute FBI interview for the jury.<\/p>\n

Together, the exchanges highlight a major theme in the federal sex-abuse trial against Wall: When the evidence relies heavily on firsthand accounts, whose does the jury ultimately believe?<\/p>\n

\u201cYou told the prosecutors and Agent (Scott) Crowley last Friday \u2014 seven days ago \u2014 that he tried to touch your pelvic area with a feather,\u201d Summer Woods asked during the woman\u2019s cross-examination.<\/p>\n

She pressed on: \u201cI am going to harp on this, because it is a significant detail. Here, Oct. 24 \u2014 seven days ago \u2014 you said he tried, and now your testimony in front of this jury is he did. And it\u2019s just a linguistic slip?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes,\u201d the woman replied.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd when you testified with Mr. Player, he didn\u2019t remind you that you said tried?\u201d Woods asked. \u201cYou know, they have to show the jury that Mr. Wall intentionally touched an intimate part of you?\u201d<\/p>\n

During the back-and-forth, the defense focused on inconsistencies between the woman\u2019s Thursday testimony and her March 2025 FBI interview.<\/p>\n

She is one of an expected six women testifying about sexual abuse as the prosecution builds its case against Wall. Prosecutors allege he exploited his standing as a medicine man and leader in the tight-knit Towaoc community to lead women into non-consensual sexual acts under a guise of healing.<\/p>\n

The defense argues each of the witnesses fabricated the allegations for multiple purposes: consensual affairs turned \u201cmessy,\u201d a person later came forward to tell \u201can honorable lie,\u201d or the allegations were politically motivated to drive the former leader off the tribal council.<\/p>\n

Day 5 concluded the first week of Wall\u2019s trial in U.S. District Court, where he faces 20 felonies. The trial is expected to continue into next week or beyond.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors move to play full recording<\/div>\n

Court began at 8:30 a.m. Friday with Woods resuming the cross-examination of the prosecution\u2019s fourth witness. The woman testified that in 2016 she arrived at Wall\u2019s residence to receive a blessing just after dusk.<\/p>\n

Based on a family referral, she scheduled the appointment with Wall, a man she said she didn\u2019t know, because the medicine man she usually saw was unavailable.<\/p>\n

Inside the trailer, she said he began speaking in Ute and using a feather, paint, crystals and a medicine bag. She said he moved the feather down her body, then touched her breast after she refused to remove her clothing.<\/p>\n

Woods questioned the woman about whether her account changed over time, accusing her of tailoring the courtroom version to fit the prosecution\u2019s. Woods asked if prosecutors explained what elements of sexual contact they needed to prove, implying that the woman\u2019s statements changed to align with those.<\/p>\n

Woods played excerpts of the original FBI interview, at times probing the witness on points the defense said had evolved, including who she recalled being in the trailer.<\/p>\n

\u201cDid Agent Crowley ask you \u2018Had he been there the whole time?\u201d Woods asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would have to say \u2018no,\u2019 because it was just so dim,\u201d the witness replied.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we could please play it again \u2026 I am going to have you listen again,\u201d Woods stated.<\/p>\n

After the clip played, Woods asked the witness: \u201cAgent Crowley said, \u2018Had he been there the whole time?\u2019 Do you need it played again?\u201d<\/p>\n

Woods said after it played once more: \u201c\u2018When we first got there, \u2018No, he wasn\u2019t there\u2026 Is that your response?\u201d<\/p>\n

Assistant U.S. Attorney Josh Player began redirect examination in the early afternoon, just after the lunch recess. He moved to admit the full audio into evidence and play it for the jury. The defense did not object after parties conferenced privately with the judge.<\/p>\n

Week 1 recap: Jurors hear four women describe healing rituals<\/div>\n

So far in the trial, jurors were selected from a panel of more than 70 people from around Southwest Colorado. Questioning of potential jurors focused on their assumptions about sexual assault accusations, some conversations being held within the backdrop of today\u2019s social climate.<\/p>\n

Questions were raised like: \u201c(Do) you have a tendency to believe what a woman would say?\u201d (Defense Attorney Summer Woods), \u201cWould you expect a victim of sexual assault to explain the assault the same way every time?\u201d (Assistant U.S. Attorney Josh Player) and finally, instructions from the court asked jurors to presume innocence and weigh counts separately.<\/p>\n

Later in the week, prosecutors presented testimonies from four different women, some of whom grew emotional while testifying.<\/p>\n

During cross-examinations, the defense probed memory lapses, saying stories shifted from initial statements given to police.<\/p>\n

The trial will pick up Monday when jurors hear the rest of Friday\u2019s audio clip. Next week, the prosecution will continue presenting its case, followed by the defense.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors are expected to present testimony from experts in the behavior of sexual assault victims, two more women, and the special agent who investigated the case.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1 covers testimonies on ceremonies and challenges to credibility<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15868,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-15867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15867"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15867\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21068,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15867\/revisions\/21068"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15867"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=15867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}