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The rape and sodomy case against former Oak Grove Police officer Ben Walden has been dismissed.
Christian Circuit Court Judge Andrew Self signed the order with his ruling granting the motion to dismiss the case without prejudice Friday morning. The court order says the Commonwealth recently completed an extensive forensic examination of all known electronic devises associated with the case and do not believe they have sufficient evidence to obtain a conviction against Walden, who is accused of raping and sodomizing the alleged victim at the Quality Inn in Oak Grove on September 22, 2016.
According to the order, Special Prosecutor Ralph Vick considered Kentucky State Police recovered the hard drive from the motel security system for September 22, 2016, the date of the alleged offenses, and after a review no images of Walden were found.
At the time of the alleged offense, the order says the alleged victim was engaged in a prostitution ring at the Quality Inn Motel, in which two persons engaged in that enterprise have previously pleaded guilty in Christian Circuit Court to charges of human trafficking, that involved a number of people. State police recovered the contents from at least four of those persons cell phones and after an extensive review of all the records, there was no connection to Walden.
The order also states the alleged victim previously reported that she had been physically assaulted in Wyoming and went as far as to identify and name the alleged perpetrator. However, an investigation revealed the perpetrator named was not even in the county at the time when the alleged assault occurred. The investigating officer determined that the victim’s injuries were self-inflicted.
In addition, the court order says the alleged victim was taken to Jennie Stuart Medical Center by state police where a rape kit was performed and all samples were found to have multiple contributors of DNA. However, every DNA sample that was tested resulted in the conclusion that, “Benjamin Walden can be excluded to this mixture.”
Based on the foresaid information, Judge Self says it is not clear why the indictment was sought and obtained against Walden in the first place. For these reasons, he granted the Commonwealth’s motion to dismiss the indictment.
Walden was indicted on February 3, 2017 on charges of 1st Degree Sodomy, 1st Degree Rape and 4th Degree Assault. He was accused of paying the female victim $200 for sex before telling her he was a police officer, putting his gun on the nightstand and a pillow over her face, and then raping and sodomizing her.
Attorney Rick Boling has represented Walden in this case.
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