admin @ Wed, 2005-10-12 11:23
A former Macon police officer said Tuesday he was guilty of sexually assaulting a woman in his custody at a Macon nightclubin 2003, but he withdrew the plea and decided to go forward with a scheduled jury trial.
Jerry Galloway, 30, was indicted in January 2004 on two counts each of rape, sexual assault against a person in custody and violation of oath of a police officer.
The charges stem from two accusations. In one case, Galloway is accused of sexually assaulting an 18-year-old woman at Club Money's, which was then in downtown Macon, after detaining her for fighting in June 2003. In the other case from July 2002, he is accused of threatening to arrest a 17-year-old girl if she didn't have sex with him.
Prosecutors say he sexually assaulted the two, but defense attorney Althea Buafo said Galloway isn't guilty. Buafo said Galloway had consensual sex with the 18-year-old. Buafo said he did not have sex with the 17-year-old.
When asked by Bibb County assistant district attorney Graham Thorpe, "Do you plead guilty because you are in fact guilty of committing this crime?" Galloway paused, sighed loudly and finally answered "yes."
But after Thorpe began outlining details of the alleged 2003 assault, Galloway decided to go forward with his trial. Thorpe told him the trial could go forward without the plea being mentioned to the jury.
June 22, 2003, Galloway detained the 18-year-old after she was involved in a fight outside Club Money's, where he worked off-duty as a security guard, Thorpe said.
Thorpe said Galloway told the accuser's friends he was going to take her home. Eventually, Galloway left with her, but he drove the two of them back to the club after it had closed, Thorpe said.
When the accusation became public, a woman accused Galloway of assaulting her when she was 17 in 2002, Thorpe told the jury. Thorpe said the woman met him outside Club Money's and they struck up a conversation. He later took her to a closed police substation where he sexually assaulted her, Thorpe said.
In her opening statements, Buafo said that after Galloway detained the 2003 accuser for fighting, he and other officers decided an officer would drive her home.
As Galloway was driving her home, he realized he had left his pager at the club and returned to get it. There, he and the accuser hadconsensual sex, Buafo said.
Buafo said the 17-year-old fabricated the assault. Buafo said the younger accuser and Galloway had eaten at a Krystal restaurant onceand had seen each other twice after that, including at a police station where she approached him for a conversation.
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