Judges toss rape conviction of Nsoni Mpulamasaka, a native of Zambia living in Waukegan, accuse Lake County prosecutors of misconduct

If you were from Africa and you are charged with RAPING A WOMAN in America, would you be grinning from ear to ear in your mugshot photo?

PHOTO:  Nsoni Mpulamasaka, a native of Zambia living in Waukegan

Appeals judges have reversed the conviction of a man accused of raping a woman in Highland Park and ruled that Lake County prosecutors committed misconduct by making improper remarks at the end of the trial.

The judges wrote that prosecutors did not adequately prove the guilt of Nsoni Mpulamasaka, a native of Zambia living in Waukegan before he was charged with raping a learning-disabled Evanston woman, 41, in her vehicle outside a Denny's restaurant in 2011. His attorneys argued at trial in 2013 that the encounter was a consensual tryst between two married people, and the judges wrote in a decision filed Wednesday that the evidence of rape was "improbable and unsatisfactory."

Mpulamasaka, now 30, was sentenced to 12 years in prison, and he remained held Friday at Hill Correctional Center in Galesburg in western Illinois, prison records show. Prosecutors could challenge the ruling, and Mpulamasaka's attorney at trial, Jed Stone, said he did not expect him to be released immediately.

Lake County State's Attorney Mike Nerheim said he disagreed with the case's reversal, and he and his deputies would consider whether to fight the decision.

Stone said he was pleased that the appeals judges used the ruling to criticize prosecutors' conduct.

"It's a good day for all defendants," Stone said.

In finding misconduct, the judges wrote that prosecutors improperly emphasized the alleged victim's learning disability and suggested she'd been unwittingly led during cross-examination toward answers calling the defendant's guilt into question. The judges called out Assistant State's Attorney Reginald Mathews for sitting at the witness stand as he extolled the alleged victim's courage and impugned the credibility of Mpulamasaka, who did not testify in his own defense. The judges wrote that jurors might have acquitted Mpulamasaka if it weren't for prosecutor's "improper remarks."

CLICK FOR MORE - Tribune Paid Subscription Link