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Defense claims shewants his millionsBy Ski SchwartzGazette StaffWhen Donald Lukas met the wife he is charged with sexually assaulting, he was a millionaire. She was living in a Janesville shelter for battered women He was 64.She was 33.He gave her $200 to help her get on her feet.Two years later, their paths crossedagain. Theystarted dating in summer 1906.Within months, Lukas proposed marriage.She declined.There were a number of engagement rings offered, said David Wambach, the Jefferson Coun-K? v ' »y „ * • ...:i ''* V (f'\i;ty district attorney who is acting as special prosecutor in the Rock County case.Each and every time, (she) turned the defendant down, he told the jury Monday.The jury was seated late Monday morning to hear what is expected to be a three-day trial. Lukas is charged with three counts of felony third-degree sexual assault of his wife and two counts of misdemeanor fourth-degree sexual assault.Wambach said the woman “developed a love for the defendant as a friend and the defendant for (the woman).She accepted his offer to live in his home. When she moved in, he moved out and lived at his cottage to avoid the appearance of impropriety, defense attorney MarcMcCrory told the jury.Don is old fashioned enough that he believes it’s not appropriate to have sex with someone you’re not married to,” McCrorysaid.In December 1996, Lukas proposed again, and the woman accepted.Before the Jan. 10 ceremony, they signed a prenuptial agreement. In it, she agreed that if the marriage failed, she would get none of his $2.25 million. He agreed he would get none of her $1,500,Wambach said.This was to be a marriage of friendship, Wambach told the jury. “She would take care of the defendant, and he would provide for her.Before the marriage, she told the defendant she expected a marriage without sex, Wambach said.In the weeks after the ceremony, the woman says, Lukas forced her to have sex. While he was out oftown in early February, she told a friend about the assaults; then she told people at the women’s shelter, and she finally told the police, Wambach said.JANESVILLELukasT. A.-. Tm AC 14 A A
Newspaper Details
Janesville Gazette
Janesville, Wisconsin, US
Tue, Nov 18, 1997
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Hedberg P.
Wisconsin, USA 10 Jul 2023
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