Post by Shuftin on Jan 24, 2007 1:10:30 GMT -5
January 23, 2007
OMAHA, NEBRASKA — A judge got the case of an Omaha police officer accused of illegal sexual activity while on the job after the officer testified in his own defense.
Scott Antoniak, 28, is charged with sexually assaulting a prostitute and threatening to take the woman to jail if he didn’t get his way. He was fired from the force last year.
On Monday, a convicted prostitute and drug user was the prosecution’s key witness. She told the court she was mad when the officer forced her to have oral sex with him.
Antoniak told the court on Tuesday that it was the prostitute’s idea to give him oral sex, and he admitted that he made a mistake by accepting.
His attorney said consensual sex is not first-degree sexual assault.
The prosecutor said it doesn’t matter who initiated the sex, since the officer was in a position of authority, he had the ability to coerce her.
“Between this police officer and this woman who lives on the streets, there’s an extreme power differential, said Assistant Douglas County Attorney Leigh Ann Retelsdorf. “There’s an extreme power differential, and she does what she has to, to stay alive. It was a choice he gave her and it was coercive in nature.”
The defense and prosecution rested their cases and Judge Joseph Troia took the case under advisement. He did not say when he will render a verdict.
www.ketv.com/newsarchive/10827211/detail.html
OMAHA, NEBRASKA — A judge got the case of an Omaha police officer accused of illegal sexual activity while on the job after the officer testified in his own defense.
Scott Antoniak, 28, is charged with sexually assaulting a prostitute and threatening to take the woman to jail if he didn’t get his way. He was fired from the force last year.
On Monday, a convicted prostitute and drug user was the prosecution’s key witness. She told the court she was mad when the officer forced her to have oral sex with him.
Antoniak told the court on Tuesday that it was the prostitute’s idea to give him oral sex, and he admitted that he made a mistake by accepting.
His attorney said consensual sex is not first-degree sexual assault.
The prosecutor said it doesn’t matter who initiated the sex, since the officer was in a position of authority, he had the ability to coerce her.
“Between this police officer and this woman who lives on the streets, there’s an extreme power differential, said Assistant Douglas County Attorney Leigh Ann Retelsdorf. “There’s an extreme power differential, and she does what she has to, to stay alive. It was a choice he gave her and it was coercive in nature.”
The defense and prosecution rested their cases and Judge Joseph Troia took the case under advisement. He did not say when he will render a verdict.
www.ketv.com/newsarchive/10827211/detail.html
