Man Found Guilty Of Rape After Teen Victim Was Jailed To Force Her Testimony
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) – A man whose rape case made national news when his teenage victim was jailed in order to force her testimony against him has been found guilty.
A Sacramento County jury found Frank Rackley guilty on four out of five counts including rape and kidnapping after the teen testified against him during his trial.
The 17-year-old was once jailed in juvenile hall for nearly a month to guarantee her testimony against Rackley.
The jury found Rackley guilty even after the girl admitted on the stand that portions of her initial story were a lie.
The girl initially told investigators she was kidnapped by Rackley while waiting for a Sacramento light rail train.
She later testified she was actually prostituting on that night last July when she got into Rackley's truck.
However, the girl says that's where it started to go wrong, and despite repeated appeals for Rackley to stop, the teen testified he raped her before she was able to escape his truck.
A juror told CBS13 after the verdict that despite originally lying, the teen was believable after admitting she was a prostitute.
Another prostitute also testified that Rackley picked her up in his truck last June, took her to a secluded location and raped her.
"The two victims showed extraordinary courage testifying in this case in front of the man that raped them," Deputy District Attorney Alan Van Stralen said.
William Anderson is one of the jurors who found Rackley guilty. He said despite the teen changing her story to police and eventually admitting she was working as a prostitute., her court testimony was sincere.
"At first yes, we thought she lied about this, she lied about that, but when it came down to the actual charges we felt that she was telling the truth," he said. "I think justice was done."
Sentencing was scheduled for June 22.
