WORCESTER — A Worcester Superior Court jury today
convicted a former part-time Rutland police officer on charges of rape and
assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.
Jason D. Briddon, 39, of Westminster had little reaction
after the jury announced its verdict except to slightly shake his head. It is
the second time that Mr. Briddon has been convicted of rape.
The verdict came on the second day of deliberations.
Defense counsel David R. Yannetti said outside the courthouse that he verdict
will be appealed.
Mr. Briddon was convicted of raping Shawna C. Callahan of
Worcester on May 1, 2007, when she was 27. The attack occurred on the second
floor of a building at 59 William St.
This is the second trial on the charges. A previous trial
ended in a hung jury.
Mr. Briddon already is serving a 10- to 12-year sentence
for beating and raping a prostitute in 2008. That incident occurred in a house
on Burncoat Street, and Mr. Briddon was sentenced in 2010.
That sentence is under appeal on grounds that the public
was excluded while the jury was being selected. Mr. Yannetti did not disclose
the grounds for appeal of yesterday's verdict.
Sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 6.
Judge John S. McCann presided over the trial. Assistant
District Attorney Cheryl R. Riddle prosecuted.
Ms. Callahan, 32, said that after the previous hung jury
she felt “defeated.” Last night she said, “I've fought for five years for this
and I finally got the outcome that I wanted.”
She said, “I felt vindicated, like justice had been done”
when the jury announced its verdict. “He can't hurt nobody anymore.”
Believing that her attacker was a Worcester police
officer — because he told her he was — she said she did not do what she should
have: have a rape test that would have collected evidence. That was “due to fear
and shame,” she said.
But the verdict means the jury believed her anyway, Ms.
Callahan said, in part because she was able to give the details about 59
William St. even though Mr. Briddon said that he took her home after a night of
drinking in bars without stopping at 59 William St.
Yesterday, she met the mother of Jessie Fahey, the victim
of a rape by Mr. Briddon while he was out on bail for the rape of Ms. Callahan.
Ms. Fahey died two years ago, but her mother, Elaine Fahey, said after Mr.
Briddon's second conviction yesterday, “She is so happy up in heaven.”
The Briddon family, however, was bitter, saying they have
lost faith in the justice system.
Louis Briddon, 44, a brother, said “It was basically
impossible for Jason to get a fair trial due to all the media” coverage. “We
feel there should have been a sequestered jury, which was denied.”
Brother Scott Briddon, 41, said, “There was no physical
evidence. It was just she-said-he-said. I don't believe he ever committed the
crime.”
Jason Briddon was a steward of Amalgamated Transit Union
Local 22. Both rapes took place in properties owned by Local 22 business agent
Christopher W. Bruce.
The first one, at 59 William St., houses the Local 22
office. The second was at a single family home Mr. Bruce owns at 178 Burncoat
St.
Mr. Bruce said in an interview yesterday that he does not
believe that Mr. Briddon had a key to 59 William St. and he does not know how
he got access to it after hours. The business agent said that Mr. Briddon used
to plow snow at 178 Burncoat St. and Mr. Bruce gave him a key so he could use
the bathroom if necessary.
But after the first rape was charged, Mr. Bruce said, he
told Mr. Briddon to stop plowing and requested and got the key back. Mr. Bruce
said he found after the second rape the basement door of 178 Burncoat St. had
been smashed in.
Yesterday, Ms. Callahan thanked “all of the people who
helped me” get through the ordeal the past five years, including Assistant
District Attorney Cheryl R. Riddle; the previous prosecutor, Paula Frasso;
Worcester Police Lt. William P. O'Connor; and Kate Matty, the district
attorney's victim-witness advocate. “If something like this ever happens to
you, you don't have to feel like you're not good enough or worthless,” she
said.