For the second time in 15 months, a man accused of raping a woman in his bedroom in Butte pleaded not guilty Thursday to three counts of sexual intercourse without consent and two misdemeanor assault charges.
Prosecutors filed the same charges against 28-year-old Seth Logan Leitheiser last year and he pleaded not guilty to them in April 2023. The state dismissed the charges in December, saying initial DNA tests could not link Leitheiser to the alleged rape.
Seth Logan Leitheiser appears before District Judge Kurt Krueger on Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024 at the Butte-Silver Bow Courthouse. Next to him is defense attorney Angie Miller.
But prosecutors reserved a right to refile the charges if they got additional evidence. They say advanced DNA testing was completed this past April at the State Crime Lab and a cervical swab from the victim contained Leitheiser’s DNA.
Prosecutors say Leitheiser raped the woman orally, vaginally and anally on March 4, 2023, so they filed three separate counts of sexual intercourse without consent. They charged him with two counts of misdemeanor assault for allegedly pulling the woman’s hair and dragging her by the hair during the assault.
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Each of the rape charges in this case is punishable by up to 20 years in prison, and the assault charges are punishable by up to six months in jail.
Leitheiser told police he did not have any sexual contact with the woman and said she had never been in his bedroom, but he then requested an attorney before answering any more questions. He was soon arrested but posted bail and remains free now on a $50,000 bond.
Leitheiser and his attorney, Angie Miller, appeared before District Judge Kurt Krueger for Thursday’s arraignment.
The alleged victim said she and several friends were at Leitheiser’s residence on a Friday night and early Saturday morning, drinking alcohol and partying, and she went into a bedroom to lay down.
She said Leitheiser came into the bedroom, lay on top of her and they began kissing. He put his hands down her pants and that was consensual, too, she said, but the mood changed after another woman came into the bedroom and left.
The alleged victim said Leitheiser became physically aggressive and the sexual assaults began. She said she told him to stop several times but he did not, at one point pulling her to the floor by her hair when she tried to leave.
She said Leitheiser eventually allowed her to leave the room. She said she and a friend left the residence, went to St. James Healthcare where a rape exam was performed, and called police.
Police applied for a search warrant for the residence and Leitheiser was taken to the Butte jail. His clothing was confiscated and secured as evidence, and a search warrant was granted for police to obtain a DNA swab from Leitheiser.
Mike Smith is a reporter at the Montana Standard with an emphasis on government and politics.
