Former Garden Grove Police Officer Found Guilty Of Sexually Assaulting 3 Women
SANTA ANA (CBSLA.com) — A former Garden Grove police officer was convicted Friday of sexually assaulting three women.
Jesse Andrew Green, 35, wiped his eyes as the verdicts of the seven- woman, five-man jury were read in a Santa Ana courtroom.
The three victims were women Green dated. His defense attorney argued that many of the dates occurred after the sexual assaults.
The jury convicted Green on three sex-assault counts and deadlocked on a fourth charge.
In his opening statement of the trial, Deputy District Attorney Eric Scarbrough alleged Green called his victims names and told them he gave them sexually transmitted diseases. But defense attorney John Barnett said his client's accusers were liars who continued to date him after they were "attacked".
Green, of Huntington Beach, lost his job as a police officer Nov. 24, 2010. He was let go about seven weeks after being charged with sexually assaulting two of the victims.
"This is not a case of stranger rape," Scarbrough told jurors. "What you're going to hear about is physically, emotionally and psychologically confusing reports of date rape."
The victims -- identified in court only as Gina, Abigail and Marissa -- felt "violated" and "also blamed themselves," Scarbrough said.
"They were confused by the defendant's conduct," Scarbrough said.
The prosecutor acknowledged that confusion manifested itself in some strange ways.
"You're going to hear they did some foolish things, dangerous things, afterward."
Abigail, who met the defendant through the dating website Match.com, went on a second date with Green after he allegedly forced her to perform a sex act on him in January 2009, but she cannot say why, Scarbrough said.
All three "liked" the defendant and had consensual sex with him. But the prosecution alleged that at various times, Green would force the women to perform acts they objected to. He also said he was giving them a sexually transmitted disease, Scarbrough said.
Gina met Green online and went on a date with him in April 2006 and had consensual sex with him, Scarbrough said. However, when they were about to have sex on another occasion he grew angry when she asked him to use a condom. Scarbrough said Green sodomized Gina while calling her names such as "whore."
Green met Marissa through mutual friends. The two exchanged text messages and she sent him "salacious" photos of herself in lingerie, Scarbrough said. They met for a date in November 2009 at an Italian restaurant in Newport Beach, and later when they were about to have sex, she angered him by asking him to wear a condom.
"That's when she saw a change," the prosecutor said, adding that the defendant became aggressive and insulted the woman, telling her "I have AIDS, now you're going to have AIDS and no one will want you."
He returned to being "a nice guy again" after they had sex, prompting Marissa to wonder, "am I over-reacting?" Scarbrough said.
When they started to have sex again, Green "turned her over" and sodomized her, Scarbrough said. She managed to push him away and ran off, with Green chasing her, saying, "Let's talk," the prosecutor said.
Barnett said even "after all the bad things the prosecutor said happened, the alleged victims are calling and dating the alleged rapist and sodomizer."
He said Green first dated Gina in February 2005, and the two had consensual sex in November 2005, but the alleged sexual assault happened in April 2006. The attorney said Gina wanted a serious relationship, but Green did not.
Gina only went to police in May 2006 when he failed to show up to help her move, Barnett said.
Before Green dated Marissa, she sent him photos of herself in a provocative police costume, Barnett said.
When Marissa went to police a day after their date in November 2009 she did not initially tell officers about the claim that he had a sexually transmitted disease, Barnett said. She also falsely reported that a police dispatcher accused her of being a "cop hater," but the 911 call does not reflect that, the defense attorney said.
Barnett said Abigail went on a second date with Green after he allegedly sexually assaulted her and that the two exchanged 67 telephone calls following the supposed attack.
One of those phone calls was a "happy birthday call" to the defendant, Barnett said, adding mockingly, "A happy birthday to my rapist."
A fourth woman who alleged Green forced her to have sex was allowed to testify in the case, but the defendant was not charged with sexually assaulting her.
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