Rape suspect faces new assault charge

An 18-year-old man who faces trial next month for two counts of raping a girl was arraigned this week on a new charge that he raped a Spokane Valley woman while he was out on bond.

Damion Charles Jackson was arraigned Tuesday before Superior Court Judge Gregory Sypolt, who ordered Jackson held on a $300,000 bond.

That’s $295,000 more than the bond he posted last December to get out of jail while facing two counts of first-degree rape of a child, according to court documents.

“We asked for a $50,000 bond” last December, Deputy Spokane County Prosecutor Kelly Fitzgerald said. “And over our objection, the judge reduced it to $5,000.”

The Superior Court judge who reduced Jackson’s bond was Richard Schroeder, who has since retired. Jackson – who had two juvenile convictions for assault and another conviction for a weapons intimidation charge – posted bond on Dec. 18 and was released, Fitzgerald said.

In the 2003 case, Jackson was charged with twice raping a 6-year-old girl whom he was baby-sitting in a Spokane home.

Jackson’s trial on those charges was originally set for April, but it was later postponed to July 12, Fitzgerald said. But Jackson was arrested earlier this month after a Spokane Valley woman accused him of rape in an unrelated case.

A Spokane Valley woman told Spokane County sheriff’s Detective Kevin Bechtold that she met Jackson on June 10 when two friends brought him over to her apartment complex at 9310 E. Montgomery.

The two friends left the apartment at Jackson’s request, leaving him and the woman alone, according to court records. Jackson started playfully touching the woman but later became more determined as she repeatedly told him to stop.

“Damion didn’t stop and continued his advances,” Bechtold wrote. “Damion started becoming more aggressive and picked her up and sat her down on the kitchen counter.”

The woman pushed herself away from Jackson, fell back and hit her head on a closet door. She walked into the living room and sat down on the couch. Jackson followed and then sexually assaulted her, according to court documents.

Later that same night, Jackson bragged to his friend, Joshua Hewson, that he had sex with the woman. “Joshua said when they learned that (the woman) was accusing Damion of rape, Damion asked him to lie,” Bechtold wrote.

At 7:50 p.m. on June 10, deputies located Jackson and Deputy Chan Erdman interviewed him.

During the interview, Jackson admitted that he forced off the woman’s clothes and that she tried several times to push him away.

“When we were in the kitchen I just started kissing her, and she said ‘No,’ but I didn’t think she meant it,” Jackson said in court documents.

Later in the interview with Erdman, Jackson broke down crying and said, “I can’t help myself, I couldn’t stop myself,” court records show.

Deputy Erdman asked Jackson if he knew the definition of rape.

“Yeah it’s when you have sex with someone after they tell you ‘no,’ ” Jackson said in court records.

Jackson admitted to raping the woman before saying, “I don’t know why I did it. I can’t help it. I need counseling,” according to Erdman’s report.

Jackson’s attorney, Richard Sanger, could not be reached late Thursday for comment.

Fitzgerald, who has prosecuted sexual assault cases against children and adults for the last two-and-a-half years, was reluctant to fault a judge for reducing the bond against Jackson.

Suspects often violate the terms of their release, she said. But most of the time, it involves them contacting the victim, drinking or leaving the home where they are supposed to stay.

“This is the first case I have had where someone committed another sex offense while on release,” she said. “Obviously, we ask for bonds that are reflective of the danger that the individual could present to the community … or on flight risk.

“But the judge didn’t agree and reduced it.”