Accused rapist faces 2 felonies after allegedly trying to get victim threatened from jail

Michael David Winslett now is being held in the Muscogee County Jail on two charges for which he has been granted no bond after being accused of sending a nephew a letter instructing him to convey threats to a woman Winslett’s accused of raping July 3.

Testifying Thursday in Columbus Recorder’s Court, Detective Ron O’Neal, who arrested Winslett on the rape charge, said he got a call from the jail about 3:15 p.m. Sept. 14 informing him a deputy had intercepted a letter that Winslett, 58, had tried to mail.

The letter written Sept. 12 was addressed to the nephew, whom Winslett told to get someone named “Mary” to go to the 43-year-old woman Winslett’s accused of raping and threaten to “beat her a--” if Winslett wasn’t released from the jail in two or three days.

Were Winslett not freed by Sept. 21, the nephew was to gather a gang of people to assault both the victim and her boyfriend, O’Neal said Winslett wrote.

O’Neal said he tried to track down the nephew, but found the man had been evicted from the address to which Winslett wrote.

The victim told investigators that people in her neighborhood have been threatening her in regard to her reporting the rape, trying to intimidate her into changing her story, O’Neal said.

Winslett was charged with attempting to tamper with a witness and with making terroristic threats. But during the hearing, defense attorney Jose Guzman pointed out that the latter charge requires a corroborating witness to confirm the threat, and none was present in court. Guzman noted also that Winslett never threatened the woman directly, as his letter was not addressed to her and was never mailed.

Judge Julius Hunter agreed, and dismissed that charge. But he also changed the attempted witness-tampering charge from a misdemeanor to a felony, and refused to set a bond on it.

As Winslett has no bond on his rape charge, he’s being held without bond on two felonies.

This story was originally published September 20, 2018 at 5:23 PM.