On August 19, 2020, a 16-year-old girl known in court records as K.A.W. said that she had been raped and sexually assaulted several years earlier by Scott Meier, who had dated her mother several years earlier. She said the incident occurred at Meier’s apartment in Bellevue, Washington, when she was either 12 or 13 years old.
K.A.W. made the initial accusation during an appointment with Dr. Daniel Delgado, her primary care doctor. Delgado was required under law to report the allegation. He told K.A.W.’s mother, Jenise Hite, who contacted the police in Redmond. Both Redmond and Bellevue are suburbs of Seattle.
Hite and Meier had started dating in 2012. Beginning in July 2013, Hite and her five children began living with Meier. After Hite and Meier broke up, Hite’s children continued to see Meier, often spending weekends at his apartment or with his parents, who lived in the town of Puyallup. The visits stopped after Hite began dating another man, who complained that Hite’s children weren’t bonding with him because of Meier’s presence.
Detective Christine Mitchell with the Redmond Police Department, began an investigation. She interviewed K.A.W. on August 28, 2020. K.A.W. told Mitchell that she had been sexually assaulted by Meier when she was visiting his apartment in Redmond. She said K.I.W., her sister, who was 18 months older, was not present, because by then K.I.W. had stopped visiting Meier. K.I.W. said she had no first-hand knowledge of the claims, but also said that had stopped visiting Meier before her other siblings stopped.
On September 22, 2020, Detective Mitchell interviewed Karen Burdick, who was K.I.W.’s former therapist. Burdick said she provided counseling to K.I.W. in 2019 and that she had posed trauma-based questions to K.I.W. during the counseling session.
Burdick told the police that K.I.W. began having a mental health crisis in November 2019 and received counseling. Burdick said she used regression-type therapy, where she asked K.I.W. specific questions about her childhood. She said that K.I.W. said during the counseling session that Meier had exposed her to pornography, touched her leg, and had bought her underwear which he later made her try on in front of him. As Burdick continued questioning K.I.W., she said to the girl, “You’re kind of giving off, like the patterns that you’ve been sexually abused or, like, groomed.” According to Burdick, K.I.W. replied: “No. Like, no, that’s never happened to me.”
Still, Burdick contacted Child Protective Services (CPS) on November 27, 2019, and the agency created a report based on K.I.W.’s sessions. Burdick also told Hite about what K.I.W. said about Meier’s behavior. CPS closed the case because there was no information regarding sexual contact or any indication K.I.W. was forced to watch pornography.
Separately, Hite told Delgado about K.I.W.’s comments to Burdick.
On October 8, 2020, Meier, then 36 years old, was charged with second-degree rape of a child and communication with a minor for immoral purposes. The first charge, which involved K.A.W., said the crimes took place between August 26, 2016, and December 31, 2017. The second charge involved K.I.W., and listed the time frame as October 2020.
On May 4, 2022, Todd Maybrown, Meier’s attorney, interviewed K.I.W. in preparation for trial. K.I.W., now 19 years old, said the time frame in the indictment was wrong because she had no contact with Meier during 2020. She said the correct time frame was no later than early 2017.
Maybrown then moved to dismiss the second count of the indictment, because of the statute of limitations on the alleged offense. The state later amended the indictment to remove that count and include a count of child molestation involving K.A.W..
Even though K.I.W. was no longer a victim in the case, the state listed her as a witness to establish a pattern of Meier’s behavior. It sought to have her testify: that Meier showed her photographs of his penis and a pornographic video; that he bought her inappropriate clothing and made her model it; that he held her hand in public; that he put his head on her butt and touched it; and that he called K.I.W. “lame” when she objected to this behavior.
The defense argued that K.I.W. should not be permitted to testify about these uncharged acts, because they differed substantially from the behavior that formed the basis of the charges against Meier.
At a pre-trial hearing in King County Superior Court on March 7, 2023, Denise Meier testified about her son’s relationship with Hite and Hite’s children, which she described as close but appropriate. She used photos from social media to bolster her testimony but also acknowledged she was not present during all the children’s visits to Scott’s apartment.
After the hearing, Judge Stephen Rosen granted the state’s motion. He said that K.I.W.’s testimony was admissible to show Meier’s preparation and planning.
Maybrown quickly asked Judge Rosen to reconsider. At a second hearing, Burdick testified about her counseling sessions with K.I.W.. She said that the girl had completed a Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder form on October 29, 2019, and made no mention of a traumatic experience with Meier.
Judge Rosen affirmed his earlier ruling. He said K.I.W.’s lack of disclosure to Burdick didn’t mean the events K.I.W. later described didn’t happen.
“There are some issues factually about what happened and why they happened and who was present at which time, which I’ve already acknowledged in my previous ruling,” he said. “But in this scenario, the evidence with K.I.W. is so similar that I find it is markedly similar to the grooming conduct of the charged victim … [It] is incredibly material and probative of whether there was grooming behavior because Mr. Meier … had access to both young women, both in his care, and seemed to be grooming both of them for the ultimate act. But it only happened with one of them.”
The trial began on June 12, 2023. Matthew Gross was the prosecutor. Although Judge Rosen had presided over the pre-trial hearings, Judge Aimee Sutton presided over the trial.
During his opening statement, Gross told jurors that “Scott had been slowly eroding the boundaries of social norms” with both girls. When K.I.W. rebuffed him, Gross said, Meier turned to K.A.W. and raped and molested her when her older sister wasn’t there.
“To be clear, K.I.W. is not alleging that Scott ever raped or molested her,” Gross said. “She’s not a charged victim in this case. But the evidence will show that Scott used the same plan and preparation with K.I.W. that he used with K.A.W.. He laid the groundwork in the same way. Fortunately, K.I.W. was a bit older than K.A.W., a bit less vulnerable. She was able to protect herself.”
K.A.W., now 18 years old, testified about her relationship with Meier. She said, “He was a father figure to me.” She said she felt special when Meier gave her gifts, complimented her and paid attention to her.
She testified that Meier touched her breasts after she got out of the shower and was wrapped in a towel. K.I.W. was not at this visit, K.A.W. said, and Meier gave her an option to sleep in his bedroom that night, away from her other siblings. She said Meier then took off her clothes and told her to keep quiet. She said she was in pain during the entire incident.
During cross-examination, Maybrown questioned K.A.W. about inconsistencies between her testimony and her earlier statements, including the way that she said Meier assaulted her.
Maybrown also questioned K.A.W. about her timeline of events. She testified the rape occurred when she was 12 years old, which would have between August 26, 2016 and August 26, 2017, but she had told the police it happened when she was 13 years old. She said at trial that she didn’t see Meier when she was 13 years old, and the last documented visit of any of Hite’s kids at Meier’s apartment took place in February 2017.
K.A.W.’s initial accusation against Meier occurred during a family crisis, after K.I.W. found out that K.A.W. had slept with K.I.W.’s former boyfriend. According to Delgado’s notes, K.A.W. said during a telephone appointment with him that her “Mom called her a whore and told her to get out of the house.” It was during this meeting that K.A.W. said Meier had raped her. K.A.W. said that it was Delgado who first mentioned the possibility of abuse.
K.A.W. testified she had not told Delgado the truth when she said that Meier was a registered sex offender and that he had raped her multiple times. She said that when she made those statements, she couldn’t remember the number of assaults. She said that falsely telling Delgado that Meier was a registered sex offender was somehow her attempt to keep a lid on things.
K.I.W. testified that Meier placed his head on her butt and bought her lingerie and shorts from Pink, an apparel line by Victoria’s Secret aimed at younger women and teenagers. (Throughout the trial, the prosecutor conflated the two product lines.) K.I.W. also testified that Meier showed her a pornographic video and a photo of his penis on his cellphone. K.I.W. said his behavior made her feel uncomfortable and that she stopped visiting Meier before her other siblings stopped going.
Although K.I.W. had said in her statement to police that her visits to Meier never resumed once they stopped, digital evidence contradicted that account, and during cross-examination she testified that the visits had resumed.
Maybrown asked her: “Did you tell Det. Mitchell you stopped going for a period of time and then you started going again? Did you say that?
“No.”
“Okay. When I interviewed you in May 2022 and I asked you all those questions, did you tell me you stopped going for a period of time and then you started going again?”
“No.”
“Okay. So, the first time we ever heard that was today, right?”
K.I.W. testified about the chaotic events in her household at the time her sister first accused Meier of abuse. Although the accusation happened just days after K.I.W. learned of her sister’s betrayal with K.I.W.’s boyfriend, K.I.W. said she had quickly moved past the incident. Maybrown asked her about Burdick’s notes from that period, where K.I.W. had spent two sessions describing the toxic relationship between the two siblings. K.I.W. said that was just sisters being sisters.
Hite testified that after her daughter made the accusation to Delgado, she and K.I.W. tried to figure out a timeline for when the incident could have happened. She said they agreed that it had to be a time when K.I.W. wasn’t at the apartment. K.I.W. had testified that it could only have happened in the fall of 2017. Hite testified that the visitation schedule with Meier was every other week in the beginning, then once a month from 2016 and early 2017. She said there was no evidence her two daughters saw Meier after February 21, 2017.
Denise Meier testified that she remained involved in the children’s lives after her son and Hite broke up. The kids visited her house, and she said she helped arrange their visits at her son’s apartment. “I always knew what was going on,” she said. Denise Meier said there was never a time when K.I.W. stopped visiting; She was “part of the package deal.”
In his closing argument, Gross said the state didn’t have to prove the exact date of the assault or the specifics of the crime. He said that Hite and K.I.W. had testified credibly that there were numerous times when K.I.W. did not participate in the visits, which gave Meier the opportunity to sexually assault K.A.W..
K.A.W. “is no longer keeping his secret,” he said. “And the consequences of his actions are not her burden to bear. K.A.W. came in here, took an oath, and told you about Mr. Meier raping her. She described it in horrible, disturbing, and graphic detail. Then she actually answered questions about her family life, her medical records, and her sex life in a room full of strangers. Before you reach your verdict, which is a decision about whether the state has proven each element beyond a reasonable doubt, you, the jury, must answer a simple question. Do you believe K.A.W.?”
Maybrown said in his closing argument that the state’s timeline didn’t add up. The digital evidence of the children’s visits with Meier or his parents supported Meier’s contention that K.A.W. was never there without her older sister. Maybrown also said that K.A.W.’s testimony was riddled with inconsistencies, including how she was sexually assaulted and what she was wearing. These were the kind of details that a person wouldn’t forget, he said. “When you—when you’re telling a story that’s fiction, it’s hard to get the details,” Maybrown said. “It’s just hard. And how could K.A.W. get so many details wrong if she was telling a true story? It’s unfathomable.”
On June 20, 2023, the jury convicted Meier on both counts.
Prior to sentencing, Meier moved for a new trial, arguing that Judge Rosen had erred in allowing K.I.W. to testify.
“Mr. Meier maintains the State failed to establish the necessary foundation for the other act evidence, but even if it had met that evidentiary threshold, the other acts were not markedly like the charged offenses as to constitute a common scheme or plan,” the motion said. “Critically, both the ‘plan’ and ‘preparation’ grounds for admitting the other act evidence created a forbidden propensity inference about Mr. Meier and allowed the State to exploit the jury’s sympathies.”
The state opposed the motion, arguing that Judge Rosen had been within his discretion to allow K.I.W.’s testimony.
The motion was denied, and Meier was sentenced on September 15, 2023, to nine years and two months in prison.
He appealed his conviction, again arguing that Judge Rosen had erred in his ruling allowing K.I.W. to testify.
While the appeal was pending, on November 5, 2024, Mitchell received a letter from K.A.W. titled “K.A.W.’s Confession of False Allegations.” The letter read in part: “Six years ago, I made a report regarding a claim that I was sexually assaulted by Scott Meier. However, the information I provided was not all true and my report of being raped was false.”
After Meier’s attorneys received a copy of the letter, they filed a motion on November 14 to vacate his conviction.
Four days later, Mitchell and a deputy prosecutor interviewed K.A.W., K.I.W., and Hite. K.A.W. said during the interview that her letter was accurate, that her trial testimony was false, and that Meier had never sexually assaulted or molested her. K.I.W. and Hite said that K.A.W. had recently told them about her false accusation and testimony.
Separately, K.A.W.’s boyfriend also said that K.A.W. had told him about four months earlier that she falsely testified about the sexual assault.
On November 26, 2024, the state consented to vacate Meier’s conviction.
Judge Sutton granted the motion to vacate the convictions and dismiss the charges that same day. In her ruling, she wrote: “Having presided over the Meier trial, and having considered this newly discovered evidence, this court specifically finds that [K.A.W.’s] recantation is credible and reliable. The Court also finds that [K.A.W.’s] recantation is corroborated by other evidence, including the statements of [her] mother, [her] sister, and [her] boyfriend. In fact, given the foregoing, there is compelling evidence that Scott Meier is factually innocent of all charges in this case.”
Meier was released from prison that day. On December 5, 2024, Meier filed a claim for state compensation for his wrongful conviction.
– This case was researched and written by students in Social Ecology 106W, Spring 2025, at the University of California, Irvine.
Posting Date: 05-30-2025
Last Update Date: 05-30-2025
