No Stone Unturned Wichita Attorney’s ‘Bulldog’ Work Freed Man Of False Accusations Written by Amy Palser
The morning that a SWAT team broke down Saber Hossinei’s door at 5 a.m. and woke him out of a deep sleep, the 30-yearold Wichita man wondered at first if he was dreaming. Even now, seven years later, it sometimes feels like it was all a surreal dream – and yet it’s very real. Without a doubt, it was the moment that changed Saber’s life forever. “It still blows my mind that this happened – from the beginning to the end, I can’t comprehend it,” said Saber. It was the morning of Jan. 21, 2015, the same day Saber – who grew up in the country outside of Benton with his parents and four siblings – was to start classes at Wichita State University to complete his bachelor’s degree after a 10-year hiatus. In a deep sleep with a couple hours left until his alarm clock would go off, Saber realized that the banging sounds and loud voices that he thought were a dream were actually coming from his living room. “I woke up, and I went downstairs,” he recalled. “I’m going down my spiral staircase in my boxers, and there is an entire SWAT team staring at me. They’re yelling, ‘Come down with your hands up! Hands behind your head!’ They’ve got big shields, they had the helmets, they had the shotguns, their flashlights. They were obviously looking for something. “They handcuffed me immediately. I said, ‘What’s going on?’ I had no idea why they were there. There are crazy thoughts going through my head: I’m Iranian, I have a very Iranian name, am I being FBI watch-listed? I had no idea what to think.” It was five hours later while sitting face-to-face with an investigator at the police station, that Saber learned why he was there: He was being charged with rape. “I was shocked. I didn’t know jack about the law but I knew I needed counsel,” Saber said. “When he (the investigator) first told me the charges, I had no idea, I couldn’t even think where they had come from. Until he said, ‘Do you want to tell me about last night?’ That’s when Saber realized the nightmare he was living had actually started the night before. 8
About Last Night It was a woman Saber had met on Tinder. Days earlier, they had exchanged phone numbers, made plans to get a drink, canceled them. But on Jan. 20, 2015, the woman texted Saber: “Hey, I’m getting off work early tonight. Do you want to meet up?” Around 7:30 p.m., they met at Mort’s in Wichita, talked and had a round of drinks. They ordered a second round. The woman complained her drink was too strong. Saber casually told her, “Well, don’t drink it then.” The two decided to leave the bar, so they hopped into her car and drove to Saber’s apartment. They had consensual sex. It was still pretty early, Saber said, so they watched a movie. Before the movie was over, she said she was getting tired, so Saber walked her out to her car, kissed her goodnight, and she left. Saber went to sleep. The woman did not. Saber would learn later that, after leaving his apartment, she drove to a parking garage and called the police.
Wrongfully Accused After being booked into jail, Saber’s mind was racing. How could he prove that the encounter he had the night before was consensual? It was certainly irresponsible, he admits, but not illegal. He recalled that his apartment building had surveillance cameras outside. If the cops could just see the tape of him walking the woman to her car, chatting with her, kissing her goodnight, they would see the woman’s story didn’t check out, wouldn’t they? Meanwhile, Saber’s brother and friends were trying to find an attorney specializing in false accusations. They found criminal defense attorney Jonathan W. McConnell of McConnell Law Firm in Wichita, known for his expert knowledge and unmatched tenacity. A few days after Saber was booked into jail, Jon came to visit him.
APRIL 2022 · splurgemag.com