Prison caseworker says she was raped, government disagrees

Jurors must decide whether it was rape or an abuse of authority in a case that pits a violent career criminal against a longtime federal employee.

Wynona Mixon is accused of abusing her position as a federal caseworker by becoming sexually involved with an inmate and then lying about it afterwards in a trial that started Tuesday at the U.S. District Court in Tucson.

Mixon, who worked in the federal prison system more than 20 years, says she was the one who was raped in August 2011 at the U.S. Penitentiary, 9300 S. Wilmot Road. The high-security facility houses some of the nation’s most dangerous criminals, including many sex offenders.

Inmate Christopher Goins — whose criminal history includes slashing the throat of a female defense attorney and raping his female cousin at knife point — claims Mixon had consensual sex with him on more than one occasion before she accused him of raping her on Aug. 12, 2011.

Mixon’s actions were “an abuse of trust and authority,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Wheat, who told jurors Mixon lied about being raped because she feared she’d been seen leaving an employee bathroom shortly before Goins also exited the otherwise unoccupied room.

Mixon’s defense attorney, Bates Butler, said Goins raped Mixon in that bathroom after confronting her with a letter opener.

“He threatened that day to cut her if she didn’t go in the bathroom,” he said. “She chose not to resist, and to live. The fact she chose not to resist does not mean it was not rape.”

Wheat outlined for jurors what occurred the morning Mixon said she was raped, and told them she did not report the alleged incident until more than two hours afterward. He said she sent routine work emails that morning, and that colleagues saw her talking to Goins in her office and that “nothing seemed amiss.”

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The penitentiary was put on lockdown after the allegation was made by Mixon that morning, and she was then taken to Tucson Medical Center.

Butler told the jury not to become too focused on timing details, and that it is common for rape victims to forget details when they recall an assault.

“This is a case where one’s credibility is everything,” he said. “Their case is built on this man’s credibility.”

As a case manager, Mixon helped the inmates line up programming, such as counseling and education classes. She had over 200 inmates under her supervision in August 2011 but did not return to work afterward. Butler said she was too traumatized by what occurred, and now suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder.

“She did not have a good relationship with some of the investigators in the prison,” Butler said in an interview before the trial began. “This was because she’s outspoken and she’s black and she treated the inmates like human beings.”

Wheat said in addition to lying about the rape, Mixon also filed a “false claim” against the Federal Bureau of Prisons, alleging they neglected to provide employees with adequate security. She is also accused of lying to FBI employees who interviewed her afterward.

She was indicted in 2014 and faces four counts of sexual abuse, three counts of providing false statements to the government and one count of attempting to impede a federal investigation.