SAN
JOSE (CBS SF) — A San Jose police officer accused of raping a woman while on
duty pleaded not guilty Tuesday to two new felony assault charges filed by the
Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office, a prosecutor said.
Prosecutors
charged Geoffrey Evatt Graves, 38, with assaulting and leaving visible injuries
upon an ex-girlfriend on Dec. 26, 2012 as well as sometime between March 1 and
June 30 of last year, Deputy District Attorney Carlos Vega said.
The
district attorney’s office learned of the alleged incidents involving Graves’
former girlfriend while investigating a separate case in which he is accused of
raping a woman inside a San Jose hotel room last Sept. 22 while working as an
officer.
Graves,
who pleaded not guilty to the rape charge on April 14, entered the same plea in
Superior Court in San Jose to the two new counts of inflicting corporal injury
on a spouse.
Judge
Hector Ramon set a hearing for July 1 to consider a defense motion for
discovery in the case. The judge also granted Graves’ request for a 977 wavier,
which will not require the defendant, who is free on $100,000 bail, to appear
in person at future court proceedings in the case.
Vega,
who filed an amended complaint Tuesday, claimed that Graves’ former girlfriend,
identified only as “Laura Doe,” reported that on Dec. 26, 2012, she sustained
injuries to her hands while she and Graves struggled for a set of keys.
Then
on an occasion between March 1 and June 30, 2013, during a verbal fight with
Graves, the girlfriend attempted to escape and closed a door behind her, but
Graves allegedly “kicked” in the door and “it busted open and slammed into her
face,” Vega said.
“In
both of these occurrences, the victim was visibly injured,” Vega said.
When
the door allegedly hit the woman, she suffered cuts to her head and lip, Vega
said.
The
two new counts of felony assault were within the three-year statute of
limitations to file the charges, Vega said.
“Our
investigation is ongoing and we are constantly seeking new leads as they
arise,” Vega said.
Graves
is still on paid administrative leave from the police force, Vega said.
Graves
left the courtroom in the Hall of Justice Tuesday without comment while
accompanied by his attorney Darlene Bagley.
In
the alleged rape case against Graves, prosecutors claim that around 2 a.m. on
Sept. 22, the officer and a second officer responded to a call about an
argument between the victim and her husband.
The
husband and wife had been consuming alcohol at their San Jose residence. The
woman told the officers she wanted to spend the night at a hotel where she used
to work and Graves drove her there around 2:30 a.m.
According
to prosecutors, Graves returned about 15 minutes later, knocked on the door,
went into the room, threw the woman on the bed, took off parts of his uniform
and her clothing and raped her.
According
to Vega, the officer had phoned in his position at the hotel to police earlier
and then left for about 35 minutes.
Vega
said that prosecutors have forensic evidence that a rape occurred and “our
victim is very credible.”
Graves’
accuser in the rape case, who has not been identified, did not report the
alleged sexual assault until Oct. 15, when she related the incident to police
while she was being booked on suspicion of DUI in San Jose, according to Vega.
The
woman pleaded no contest to the misdemeanor DUI charge in January, received a
standard sentence of serving weekends with a work detail and her report of the
rape charge had no impact on how the district attorney handled the DUI case,
Vega said.
