Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, October 1, 1994 TAG: 9410030047
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MICHAEL STOWE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Jean Bosue, 25, had been charged with pushing his way into Angela Shepherd's Westover Avenue apartment on June 7, knocking the woman to the floor and trying to rape her. The woman said she shot Bosue in the chest while he was putting on a condom.
Bosue told a different story Thursday and the jury must have believed at least part of it. He claimed Shepherd solicited sex from him and then shot him in the chest after he refused.
Bosue's attorney, Public Defender Michelle Derrico, said her client told her from the outset of the case that he was innocent.
"The bottom line of the case is that he was more believable than [Shepherd] was," Derrico said.
Shepherd, 25, broke into tears when the verdict was announced.
A few hours later she was still upset by the jury's decision, but agreed to talk about her frustration.
"That's why so many women that are raped don't come forward," she said. "They turned it around to make it look like I was the bad guy. ...
"It wasn't fair. It wasn't right. It makes me feel like I did something wrong."
Chief Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Betty Jo Anthony said she was surprised that the jury evidently believed Bosue's testimony.
"This truly is why more women don't report rape," she said. "The best defense in a private crime is to slime the woman."
Bosue testified Thursday that Shepherd made several visits on June 7 to the apartment across the hall from hers where he was temporarily staying.
Shepherd came over the first time, Bosue said, to apologize. Her boyfriend had yelled at him the night before after Bosue had looked at Shepherd through the window of the laundry room.
Bosue said Shepherd left after apologizing, but returned moments later and bared her breasts when he opened the door to his apartment.
"The only thing I understand was when she said, 'You like?','' he testified.
The Haitian man said he shut the door, but Shepherd was waiting in the hall when he left his apartment a few minutes later. He said Shepherd took his hand and led him into her apartment.
With the door of her apartment still open a few inches, Bosue said, the woman pulled down her shorts, exposed herself and handed him an unwrapped condom.
Bosue said he unzipped his pants and put on the condom while Shepherd lay on the carpet and began moving suggestively. He testified that he suddenly became scared that her boyfriend would return, so he zipped his pants back up while still wearing the condom.
He testified that Shepherd then put the gun to the side of his chest and fired. He fled from the apartment and police found him lying on Westover Avenue bleeding from the left side.
In addition to his own testimony, Derrico said Bosue's case was helped by the testimony of Eloi Jean Sauveur, a Haitian man who traveled to Roanoke and was staying in the same apartment as Bosue.
Sauveur told the jury that he saw Shepherd outside the apartment building on June 7 and took her to see Bosue.
Shepherd denied ever seeking out Bosue on June 7, saying she saw the Haitian men only when she went outside that morning to look for her cat. She said the men scared her because they were mocking her and imitating the way she called for her cat, Frisky.
That's when she went inside and put a .25 caliber handgun in her pocket. Shepherd alleged that Bosue forced his way into her apartment a few minutes later when she opened the door to look for her cat again.
Derrico tried to discredit Shepherd's story by portraying her as a paranoid woman who was afraid of Haitians.
A third Haitian man, who didn't come to Roanoke with Bosue but lives in Shepherd's apartment complex, testified that Shepherd reported him to the apartment manager after he moved her clean clothes from a washing machine so he could use it.
In Friday's closing arguments, Anthony told the jury that Shepherd had no reason to lie to the jury.
"She has nothing to lose or gain by coming here," she said. "Her freedom is not on the line."
Derrico told the jury not to buy it.
"She shot a man and she didn't get charged with the crime; shoot yeah, she's got something to lose," the public defender said. "Don't let this woman shoot anyone else."
Bosue, who speaks only Creole, had been in Roanoke only four days when the incident happened.
He was in the hospital for a week recovering from the gunshot wound, and police arrested him immediately after his release and charged him with trying to rape Shepherd.
Derrico said she doesn't think Bosue - who is dependent on the Refugee and Immigration Services Office in Roanoke - will stay in the area.
Bosue, who wiped tears from his eyes throughout the closing arguments Friday, showed little emotion when the verdict was announced. Derrico said that's because a court bailiff had cautioned him not to react.
by CNB