Rachel Dissell, The Plain Dealer
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A jury today
found veteran Cleveland police officer Gregory Jones guilty of raping and
kidnapping a woman in 2012.
Jones, 49, faced multiple
charges of rape, kidnapping and gross sexual imposition involving two separate
women.
After trial that lasted more
than a week in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Steven Gall's courtroom, a
jury deliberated for about two days before reaching a verdict.
They found Jones not guilty of
a rape reported by a separate woman in 2008.
Gall ordered Jones taken into
custody and set his sentencing for April 30.
"The jury saw Greg Jones
for what he is – a predator who victimized a helpless, vulnerable woman,"
Assistant Cuyahoga County Prosecutor
Jesse Canonico said after in an email after the verdict was announced. "He
was a rapist masquerading as a police officer, but this jury saw through the
disguise and held him accountable for what he did."
An officer of more than 20
years, Jones maintained his innocence and testified that he had had consensual
sex with the women, one whom he was introduced to by a friend and another he
had casual sexual relationship with.
Jones' attorneys, Steven
Bradely and Mark Marein, pointedly attacked the credibility of both women. They
could not be reached for comment after the verdict.
In a closing statement,
attorney Steven Bradley called one of the women a "chronic 20-plus-year
crack user" who admitted to being high and drunk the night she said Jones
attacked her. He also said she had sometimes worked as a prostitute.
She reported to police that
Jones attacked her after seeing a news report about him being accused of a 2012
rape. Bradley said there was no evidence other than her report.
"Who here would be willing
to rely on her," Bradley asked jurors.
The other woman, who made the
first report against Jones in July 2012 when she was 34, willingly went to
Jones' home and wasn't honest with the jury about having an interest in Jones,
Bradley said.
He said witnesses described the
Chicago woman as a conniving and manipulative liar.
Assistant County Prosecutor
Melissa Riley, however, called attention to what she called Jones'
"Penthouse forum" description of the encounters.
Jones' recollection didn't make
sense with the reaction or injuries of the woman he met through friends at a
card game.
Riley said witnesses described
how upset she was after she said Jones raped her and that medical records
backed up that she had physical injuries consistent with what she told police.
Riley also said the woman's
doctors described several injuries she had and a recently surgery that made
Jones' descriptions of her actions that night unlikely.
Riley also asked the jury to
question why – if the allegations were false – did a man that knew Jones call
the 2012 victim and offer her money to drop the complaint.
Jones has been suspended from
the department without pay since August 2012.
Public Safety Director Michael
McGrath will hold an administrative hearing soon to determine the fate of
Jones' employment with the city, spokeswoman Maureen Harper said Wednesday.
John Geer
