The trial for three men — including Seattle rapper Lathan Moses Echols, who performs as Lil Mosey — accused of raping a woman at a party in Randle in January 2020 has been delayed to Feb. 20, 2023.
This continuance marks the second time the trial against Echols and his two codefendants, Joshua Darrow and Francisco Prater, was pushed out the week before it was scheduled to begin.
The victim reportedly told police that she had gone to a party in Randle to see Echols on Jan. 6, 2020, consumed alcohol and eventually blacked out. Echols, 20, and Prater, 19, are accused of having sex with her “while she was incapable of consent by reason of being physically helpless or mentally incapacitated,” according to court documents. Darrow, 20, is accused of restraining the alleged victim during the incident.
The three men were initially charged in April 2021 with the trial scheduled to begin in July 2022. At the confirmation hearing for that July trial date, the defendants' attorneys informed Judge James Lawler the trial would need to be delayed due to scheduling conflicts with the attorneys’ other cases, and all parties agreed to a Dec. 12, 2022 trial start date.
But on Dec. 6, six days before the trial was set to begin, Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer filed a motion asking the court to delay the trial due to complications it is having with witnesses.
Specifically, the motion notes that Echols’ attorney added a “memory expert” as a witness on Dec. 1, which didn’t give the state enough “time to review any of (the memory expert’s) conclusions, yet alone look into obtaining its own expert regarding this topic” before trial.
Meyer additionally stated “certain witnesses have provided information that was not known to the state throughout the pendency of this case until recently, and the state has not had sufficient time to look into the statements,” per court documents. Specifically, Meyer wrote in the motion, one witness has “refused” further contact with law enforcement and another witness statement that was obtained Dec. 5 ended up being “significantly different than what was indicated” to the detective.
“The state is requesting a continuation of trial … to look into those matters,” wrote Meyer.
All parties agreed to continue the trial to February due to their own complications with witnesses.
Trial confirmation is now scheduled for Feb. 16, 2023.
