News
Davidson Changes Rape Plea To Guilty
By: Susan Tebben | The Athens Messenger
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An Albany woman who was a month away from a jury trial on rape charges changed her plea Tuesday in Athens County Common Pleas Court.
Jennifer Davidson, 37, was charged with two counts of rape and one count of kidnapping after taking a 10-year-old girl whom she knew to a park and raping her.
The incident happened almost exactly one year ago, when Davidson had the girl penetrate her with a vibrator, blew marijuana smoke into the girl’s mouth and used a cell phone to contact an adult sex line, according to court documents.
Davidson shook her head as the facts of the case were read by Assistant County Prosecutor Rob Driscoll, and began to cry as Judge George McCarthy asked her questions about her guilty plea.
Defense attorney Greg Meyers said his client understood the seriousness of the crime, but said the facts presented by Driscoll were not necessarily the complete facts of the case.
“We understand … that the state could have carried its burden of proof,” Meyers said.
Davidson’s previous defense attorney, Glenn Jones, who has since left the public defender’s office, filed multiple motions arguing the interpretation of “sexual conduct” used during the case.
The court recently granted the motion of the prosecution to allow the victim to be questioned via a closed-circuit television system at the trail, so that she did not have to be in the room with Davidson. The trial was scheduled for June 23.
The sentence recommended by the prosecution in exchange for the guilty plea was 11 years of total prison time, along with five years of post-release control and designation as a Tier III sex offender. She also would not be allowed to apply for early release from prison, as part of the agreement.
Sentencing was scheduled for Thursday to allow the victim to attend.