Gentry’s Conviction Is Upheld Court Says Ex-Policeman Must Do Time For Raping Retarded Woman

The Washington Court of Appeals has upheld unanimously the prison sentence of a former Spokane police sergeant convicted of raping a retarded, deaf woman.

The appellate court found “ample evidence” that William Gentry had raped the woman, who has the mental capacity of only a first-grader.

Gentry plans to appeal to the state Supreme Court, arguing that his confession should not have been used as evidence in his 1994 trial.

That appeal will further delay Gentry’s four-year prison sentence, which has been on hold since his conviction. He has been free on bond pending appeals.

Gentry, 51, referred questions to his attorney, Robert Cossey.

“We’re obviously disappointed,” Cossey said of the Tuesday ruling.

Gentry will continue living at his Deer Park home with his wife during his next appeal, Cossey said.

Gentry isn’t allowed to contact the north Spokane woman he had sex with, but she still believes she is in love with him and continues to write him letters, Cossey said.

Gentry was a veteran officer with the Spokane Police Department when he took the woman, in her 20s, to a motel for sex.

Gentry argued at his trial that he believed the woman wasn’t mentally incapacitated.

But in upholding Gentry’s conviction, the three-judge appeals panel cited testimony by the victim’s parents that she had severe developmental problems and didn’t understand the consequences of sex.

Jurors also were able to weigh her mental abilities during her extensive testimony, the court decided.

“The jurors saw her physical reactions, demeanor and responses to the interpreter’s questions and rejected Mr. Gentry’s defense,” Chief Judge Dennis Sweeney wrote.

The court also rejected Gentry’s arguments that:

Police had interrogated him without Miranda warnings.

Police improperly had denied his request for an attorney.

His experts had not been allowed sufficient time to interview the victim.

Witnesses improperly had been allowed to confer before testifying.

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