"Salem Police are not just investigating the case, they are out looking, cultivating, to find people to testify that Sterling Alexander did something." - Defense Attorney Kevin Lafky
(SALEM, Ore.) - The trial for former Salem Police officer Sterling Alexander began Tuesday. He is accused of sex abuse and rape charges in three separate cases that are alleged to have taken place while he was a police officer.
Prosecutor Jodie Bureta and Defense Attorney Kevin Lafky made their opening statements in the trial that got underway in Judge Albin Norblad's courtroom at 1:20 PM. The thirteen member jury of nine women, counting the alternate, and five men, contains one person who appears to be of minority status. Sterling Alexander was one of Salem's few African-American employees.
Jodie Bureta said the defendant used his position of authority as a police officer to take advantage of the alleged victims. In addition to various charges related to sex abuse, he is also facing one count of Official Misconduct. Bureta walked the jury through the descriptions of each of the three alleged acts. In her opening statement, she said the victims all were unwilling or coerced participants, and that Alexander admitted to having sex with one alleged victim on an audio tape.
Then Alexander's attorney, Kevin Lafky, dropped a bombshell when he proclaimed that his client, "is a victim of blatant police misconduct," and produced one of a series of internal emails circulated by Salem Police that were subpoenaed to the court.
It appears that the emails could prove to be a major blow in the state's case.
Salem Police have said from the beginning that they believe the evidence against Sterling Alexander will stand up in court, but Alexander says his problems with Salem Police began long before any criminal charges were filed against him.
It was documented in 2003 that he was having problems with one police officer who made a racial slur against him. That particular officer has since passed away. Alexander said he was concerned that there was not much of a response from his superiors after the remark was reported. A few months after that, in July 2004, he resigned his position with Salem Police.
The next development in the case was the NAACP initiating an inquiry over Alexander's racism allegations, actions that could lead to a lawsuit over civil rights violations.
Salem Police Spokesman Lt. Bill Kohlmeyer stated early on in the case that an outside agency would have to investigate the case, as it involved a former Salem Police officer and consequently, represented a potential conflict of interest. So Oregon State Police took the assignment in an effort to keep the investigation impartial.
But Lafky says the email correspondence he introduced appears to indicate that instead of leaving it to the state police, Salem Police were actively involved in the case, working in cooperation with the Oregon State Police investigator, Detective Terri Cassebarth.
One thing both sides referenced in their first day in court is that a former Salem Police sergeant named Jeff Barnes has known the second victim for several years as a family friend. Barnes resigned from Salem Police in recent weeks after many years of service, to work in construction.
Lafky produced the email from Cassebarth to Salem Police Lt. Steve Bellshaw which read: "Tell Jeff to work harder and name his price - Desperate for another victim."
Lafky says that in each case, a period of time lapsed before the alleged crimes were reported by the victims. In the first two alleged incidents, years had lapsed. It is not entirely uncommon for victims to hesitate to report sex crimes, but Lafky says there are too many inconsistencies in the three alleged victims' stories, "In all three cases there is no physical evidence, no corroborative evidence, and no forensic evidence."
With regard to the alleged conflict of interest in Salem Police investigating themselves, instead of leaving it up to OSP, Lafky went so far as to state that, "Salem Police are not just investigating the case, they are out looking, cultivating, to find people to testify that Sterling Alexander did something."
In the first case, the former officer is accused of raping a 17-year old female. Prosecutor Jodie Bureta says he met the girl during the course of an investigation. After exchanging contact on the phone, she says Alexander picked her up to give her a ride to the Salem Municipal Courthouse, but that he stopped and raped her along the way after saying he needed to pull over and check a tire that was making an unusual noise.
The woman told the jury today that Alexander allowed her to get out of his pick-up truck after he made sure his tire was OK, and that he encouraged her to have a cigarette, which she thought was odd as she was 17-years old. She said that as she dropped the butt to the ground and stepped on it, Alexander corrected her, saying it was OK to smoke but not to litter. As she bent down to pick the smashed butt off the ground, she alleges that he grabbed her, threw her into the cab of the truck, and raped her.
The alleged victim says she then got back into the truck, after being shoved by Alexander, and was driven to court.
Months after charges were filed for this alleged crime, Salem Police also filed sex abuse charges for another act he is alleged to have committed.
A woman stated that Alexander raped her several years earlier, when she was 19-years old, and he was a Stayton Police officer. Bureta says Alexander had knowledge of an underage drinking party the woman had in the home she shared with her small child, and that Alexander told her, "her kid would be taken away" if she was turned in, and consequently she felt obliged to be quiet about the alleged crime.
In that case, Bureta described another relationship that was initially very trusting, where Alexander's presence as a police officer was comforting to the alleged victims.
The second alleged victim says that he gained this trust but then approached her unexpectedly and kissed her one day after entering her house. Bureta says the woman told him kissing her when he was on duty in uniform was wrong, and asked him to leave. The prosecutor says Sterling Alexander returned to the woman's home again, later that evening, and that, unsure of what to do, the woman chose to open the door and let him in. That is when she says he ordered her to disrobe and they had sex on her couch. She added that the woman said she kept her eyes closed the whole time, "not knowing what to do."
Then a third case was brought against Sterling Alexander. This stems from an incident in which he is alleged to have had sexual contact with another employee of the city of Salem while on a police ride-along. Alexander had resigned from Salem Police before the allegation came forward. The other employee was sanctioned and given a warning for her involvement in the incident at the time.
The prosecution contends that this was a sexual act that the woman did not willingly participate in, and says she was concerned about becoming a Salem Police officer, and tolerated Alexander's alleged sexual advances because she thought he could impact her chances of eventually becoming a full time police officer, though he was not responsible for the hiring or firing of other employees.
The defense says the woman consented to the act and that the reports she made with a union representative by her side did not indicate that she was a victim of force.
Bureta says the woman regarded Sterling Alexander as a flirt, then went on to describe a series of alleged contacts during which Alexander made sexual advances toward the woman, "which she did not overreact to, she would just say, 'That's Sterling'".
Many people facing allegations of sexual misconduct tend to keep a low profile. Conversely, Sterling Alexander has stayed active in the local community, maintaining that that he is innocent and that the allegations against him are false.
Spokesman for Alexander, "Skipper" Osborne of TAJFA, (Truth And Justice For All) and former NAACP President, says everything about the case changed when the defense team received the series of emails, the first of which was shown in Tuesday's opening arguments. He says it is only one of many that will clearly illustrate how Salem Police unethically participated in the investigation of their former officer.
Osborne says the various emails, most of which have not yet been disclosed in Judge Norblad's court, discuss what appears to be an intense search "for more victims," while at the same time describes what could be used as a lack of credibility that the witnesses represent.
He says the specific email from Cassebarth to Bellshaw which reads, "Tell Jeff to work harder and name his price. Desperate for another victim," indicates a multi-agency investigation has been underway, and he says, "the reference to Jeff Barnes naming his price carries huge implications."
He added that they have received a letter from Washington, D.C. indicating that there will be a federal investigation of the alleged civil rights violations against Alexander in Salem, Oregon.
The trial for former Salem Police Officer Sterling Alexander resumes Wednesday at 9:20 AM at the Marion County Courthouse.
Sex Abuse Trial of Former Police Officer Begins in Salem, Oregon
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