Judge Reinstates Conviction He Threw Out

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SHEBOYGAN, Wis. (AP) -- A judge has changed his mind and reinstated a jury's decision to convict a 44-year-old man of trying to coax a 9-year-old girl into a Sheboygan park shelter for sex last summer.

Sheboygan County Judge Timothy Van Akkeren's threw out the guilty verdict against Mitchell Pask in September, sparking outrage. A jury had found Pask guilty of felony child enticement.

Van Akkeren ruled there was no evidence the park shelter was secluded as required by a law prohibiting luring a child into a "vehicle, building, room or secluded place" for sexual contact.

Prosecutors filed motions asking Van Akkeren to reconsider, and the judge reversed himself during a hearing Friday.

He says he expects an appeals court to take a broader interpretation of the law than he has.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)