The attorney for a former Birmingham police lieutenant convicted in the rape of stepdaughter on Monday renewed efforts to have him released from jail on bond until he sentenced.
Pete Williston in February was convicted of crimes that happened when the victim was a teen. His sentencing for the felony crime was set for April 3, but that has been delayed because of court closure amid the COVID-19 pandemic. All hearings have been postponed until at least April 16.
“Because of his current confinement and his prior position as a police officer, (Williston) is in solitary confinement and in a cell for 23 hours of the day,’’ wrote attorney Scott Harwell.
Williston, who had been out on bond pending trial, was immediately taken into custody after the verdict. The jury reached its guilty verdict after only 30 minutes.
The prosecution successfully argued that it met the criteria of forcible compulsion, saying that as a father-figure that led to the implication that the sex was forced. The defense argued that the stepdaughter was 16 years old at the time, so the sex was consensual. But prosecutors and the stepdaughter said she was 14 years old and couldn’t consent to sexual intercourse at that age.
The stepdaughter is now a 26-year-old mother of three. She testified Williston engaged in multiple sex acts with her – usually two to three times a week – from 2008 through 2011.
Harwell, in his motion, said if released, Williston would live with his wife and two children in Kimberly and would agree to house arrest and electronic monitory. He said he spoke with Williston’s mother who “said he is in good mental spirits and they would even improve if he could return home until after sentencing.”
“Although counsel is not a psychologist, in the two lengthy conversations counsel had with the defendant, he did not appear to be a risk to harm himself,’’ Harwell wrote.
Ex-officer convicted of rape wants out of jail since sentencing delayed because of COVID-19
Pete Williston in February was convicted of crimes that happened when the victim was a teen. His sentencing for the felony crime was set for April 3, but that has been delayed because of court closure amid the COVID-19 pandemic. All hearings have been postponed until at least April 16.
A former Birmingham police lieutenant charged with raping his stepdaughter said he only slept with her to solve a problem she presented to him.
Peter Williston, 50, is charged with first-degree rape. He took the stand in his own defense Wednesday. “I recognize it was disgusting and inappropriate,” Williston said during his testimony. “I was an adult. I should have known better.”
Williston admitted to having sex with his stepdaughter, but said he didn’t start the relationship until she was 16--the age of consent in Alabama. Williston also said the sexual relationship was a mutual agreement between he and the teen.
Williston said his stepdaughter, now a 26-year-old mother of three, approached him when she was 16, in the spring of 2010, about a problem she was having at school. Williston said he offered to assist her with that problem, and the two entered into a “mutual agreement” that Williston would “assist” his stepdaughter with any sexual needs she had, he said. If the victim had sex with Williston, he said, she wouldn’t have to worry about her problem at school. He was 40 years old at the time.
The step daughter had testified Tuesday that the sexual abuse began several days after she and her then-boyfriend were alone in the basement and “things got serious.” After forcing her to break up with the boy, she said, Williston came to her. “He said he wanted to have sex with me so I wouldn’t have sex with other people and get pregnant,’’ she testified.
The stepdaughter took several days to think about the arrangement, Williston testified, but later told him that if the sexual encounters would solve her issue, she would be interested. They first had sex several days later.
Williston said he and his stepdaughter only had “normal, standard” sex, and did not use any sex toys or devices, or have oral sex. The relationship lasted until the fall of 2010, Williston said, and they had sex once a week or once every two weeks until that point.
He first told prosecutors he was never physically or sexually attracted to his stepdaughter, but then said after she turned 16, there “may have been occasions” when he was attracted to her during sex.
The relationship stopped because the stepdaughter told Williston her problem was solved and she didn’t want to continue, he said.
Williston said he never forced her to have sex with him, and he never used his position as a police officer to force her to have sex. The victim wasn’t afraid of him, Williston said, but was only afraid of her mother finding out.
In 2012, Williston said the stepdaughter told her mother about the sexual relationship. He admitted that, in one conversation about the relationship with his wife, he stormed off. “I didn’t storm off because of the anger (at the stepdaughter or wife)… I stormed off because of anger towards myself,” Williston said on the stand.
Former cop charged with rape says he was satisfying teen stepdaughter’s needs
Peter Williston is charged with first-degree rape for having sex with his teenage step-daughter. He claims the teen was 16 when the relationship happened, but she says it started at 14.
