Rape trial heads to the jury

Lawyers present contrasting views of woman in the case

SAN JOSE — The jury in the rape trial of former San Jose police officer Geoffrey Graves is expected to begin deliberating Thursday after hearing closing arguments Wednesday that left sharply contrasting impressions of the woman accusing him.

According to the prosecution, Graves chose the “perfect victim” to assault in her hotel room in the middle of the night more than two years ago. The unsophisticated woman, who spoke limited English, was drunk and in the country illegally when she asked the officer to remove her from a family argument and take her to a nearby hotel where she’d worked as a maid, Santa Clara County prosecutor Carlos Vega said.

Graves spent three minutes driving her to the Towne Place Marriott Suites where he dropped her off, only to appear about 15 to 20 minutes later at the door of her room with the intention of sexually assaulting her because he imagined she had come on to him, Vega contended.

“Instead of being protective, he took advantage ... of the dynamic and raped one of the most vulnerable people in our society,” Vega contended, dubbing the offense a “colossal breakdown in a civilized society.”

Graves, now 40, has pleaded not guilty. The former cop faces a maximum of eight years in prison if the jury of five women and seven men convicts him of rape, and a life sentence if the panel also finds him guilty of the allegation that he unlawfully entered the room with the intent to commit sexual assault. He was fired by the San Jose Police Department in September.

In contrast to the prosecution, Graves’ attorney, Kristin Carter, argued that the woman is “untrustworthy” and had ample reason to twist what was a consensual, extramarital one-night stand into a purported rape.

Carter said Graves “may be a dog” to sleep with a drunk woman who asked to be removed from a family disturbance. “But he’s not a monster,” she contended. “As taxpayers and citizens, I can understand why you’re mad at Geoff ... but you don’t have to like him to find him not guilty.”

Carter also argued the woman reported the alleged sexual assault only after getting stopped for drunken driving 21 days later because she hoped to avoid arrest. Yet she asked the California Highway Patrol officers who stopped her to drive her over to the same hotel where she said she had been raped, something a victim would not do, Carter contended.