LIVINGSTON — Trial starts next week for Melanie Curtin, a woman who was previously convicted of first-degree rape and video voyeurism in 2021. She appealed that conviction and now Curtin will go before a judge and jury once again, but this time, on a reduced charge.
It’s the latest episode of UWK‘s podcast Louisiana Unfiltered, where Jim Rathmann, an investigative consultant, discussed the upcoming retrial and dispelled information surrounding Curtin’s case.
Curtin’s sister reached out to Rathmann after Curtin was convicted, he said. He tells UWK that he started digging into the court transcripts and documents to help see if anything had been missed in the previous trial.
After reading and looking through the files, Rathmann felt the information presented had skewed the original trial’s direction.
“Anyone can make a case look a particular way if you’re able to withhold a lot of the information and and kind of skew it to the direction you want, right? So some of what I saw was a lot of the evidence that was being blocked,” he explained.
Much of the withheld evidence would have been beneficial to Curtin’s case, he feels.
“There were hundreds of photos and videos of the same victim, roleplaying in the same manner, with the main video that got Melanie Curtin convicted overall,” Rathmann said.
In addition, Curtin is adamant that she was drugged for the filmed encounter. Rathmann brought up how Curtin visited an emergency room the day after the alleged rape, exhibiting symptoms such as severe headache and lower back pain, along with others consistent with potentially being drugged.
“Now people say that maybe that’s a cop out, but how would she have known five years later that this would come up as a pivotal point in her case. She wouldn’t have known.”
Proving that the sex in the video is consensual with the victim and not rape will be vital in the trial, Rathmann says. Based on the video evidence, which allegedly shows the victim moving her hands and participating during the act, Rathmann believes this will change the perspective of jurors.
With the retrial quickly approaching, Rathmann also discussed how Curtin’s name became so attached to the Dennis and Cynthia Perkins cases.
“She had absolutely nothing to do with Denny and Cynthia Perkins. She had absolutely nothing to do with any children. Her case stemmed back from several years earlier,” he explained.
Dennis Perkins and Cynthia Perkins were arrested in October 2019 and soon after, officials signaled that a third person may be involved in their case.
MORE: Dennis Perkins agrees to plea to serve 100 years
“Melanie gets arrested. She ends up being that ‘third person,’ and then it’s absolutely blasted everywhere when she was arrested on a cruise ship that had just ported back in New Orleans.”
In the years since her arrest, Curtin has faced death threats and seen her home vandalized, he added. Even after being released from prison in 2023, Curtin still wears an ankle monitor and pays fees, along with having to avoid the public eye.
“So her life has been hell. Her family’s life has been complete hell. Her name has been dragged through the mud,” Rathmann said.
After multiple appeals from Curtin’s defense were denied, her retrial was finally scheduled for August 2025. It was then postponed to November 2025, before being delayed again while the Supreme Court considered the Attorney General’s appeal. On Nov. 20, 2025, the Supreme Court denied the Attorney General’s request to review the First Circuit’s ruling.
In the trial that starts next week, Curtin now faces a reduced charge: simple rape. In Curtin’s case, aggravated rape requires two participants: Dennis Perkins & Melanie Curtin. However, when Perkins pleaded to multiple charges in 2023, this alleged rape was not one of them. That means the law does not recognize Perkins as the second participant. Simple rape is also known as third-degree rape and carries a maximum sentence of 25 years.
In this trial, all of the previously excluded evidence must be presented, as ruled by the Louisiana Supreme Court.
As in the original trial, the victim will testify again.
“She has claimed her innocence from day one, and she has never wavered on that, and yet she still was found guilty. There’s still no lenience on her,” Rathmann continued. “Doesn’t matter what she does, it’s been completely against her, and I can’t blame her whatsoever for feeling the way that she does. You know she has literally had to fight and get rid of everything in her life in order to prove her innocence, and I think come next week she’s going to prove that innocence.”
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