A former officer with the Duke University Police Department has been acquitted of charges of first-degree rape and first-degree sodomy.
The week-long trial of 39-year-old Webster Simmons ended in a verdict of “not guilty” Oct. 7. The trial took place in Houston County, Ala.
“Once I discussed the case with [Simmons,] I knew he was innocent,” Simmons’ attorney Billy Sheffield II said in an interview Tuesday.
Simmons has returned to North Carolina, Sheffield said. He may eventually return to law enforcement, though Sheffield said Simmons has not made definitive plans.
Simmons declined a request for comment.
“I can’t imagine him serving in DUPD again,” DUPD Chief John Dailey said Tuesday.
Dailey declined to comment on any change in Simmons’ eligibility for employment following his acquittal, but noted that in general, DUPD evaluates an applicant’s criminal record.
“While being charged with a crime and then acquitted is not by itself a disqualifying factor for employment at Duke, we would consider severity of the charges, job-relatedness and how recent [the charges are],” Dailey wrote in an email Tuesday.
Simmons was arrested in Alabama Oct. 26, 2009, for allegedly raping and sodomizing a woman after they both left Cowboys, a local nightclub. Throughout the trial and investigation, Simmons described having consensual sex with the woman but denied raping her, Sheffield said.
The woman must remain anonymous per Alabama law, Sheffield noted.
Based on the woman’s statements, the attack occurred between 1 a.m. and 4 a.m. Oct. 24, 2009. The woman woke up during the alleged attack handcuffed and gagged, and then became unconscious again, Houston County Sheriff Andy Hughes said in an 2009 interview with The Chronicle. She woke up at 5 a.m. after the alleged assault.
Police also found two pairs of handcuffs, a whip, a ball gag, rope and a power device with a nail attached in Simmons’ car following his arrest, Hughes said.
The woman’s statements and actions following the alleged attack brought her credibility into question, Sheffield noted. Simmons gave the woman a ride in his car, and the woman left her 12-year-old son and 15-year-old daughter in Simmons’ care.
“Why would you get back in the vehicle with the same gentleman? Why would you leave your children with him?” Sheffield said. “Third, she returned to the bar where this all allegedly happened.”
The jury was composed of mostly middle-aged mothers and one man.
A rape kit with DNA and other evidence pointing to Simmons as the guilty party were also not available to the jury, Sheffield noted.
“There was nothing to substantiate her story,” he said. “In fact, on cross-examination, after we impeached her on several things, she would not recall [anything].”
Houston County District Attorney Doug Valeska could not be reached for comment Tuesday, though he told The Dothan Eagle of Dothan, Ala., that he was disappointed with the verdict.
“There was no justice today for a rape victim,” Valeska said. “[Simmons] forgot to pick up all his sex toys to take back with him to North Carolina because he’s sure not welcome here in Houston County.”
The case received much attention in part because the woman, though single at the time of the alleged attack, is married to a staff member in the Houston County deputy sheriff’s office, Sheffield said.
Nicole Kyle contributed reporting.
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