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officer convicted of sexually assaulting transsexual

Texas police
officer convicted of sexually assaulting transsexual

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A San Antonio police officer was convicted Wednesday of violating the civil rights of a transsexual who said the officer raped and beat her during a traffic stop.

A San Antonio police officer was convicted Wednesday of violating the civil rights of a transsexual who said the officer raped and beat her during a traffic stop. The jury found that Officer Dean Gutierrez's conduct violated Gabriel Bernal's rights through aggravated sexual assault. A sentencing hearing is set for December 1. The felony carries a sentence of up to life in prison and as much as $250,000 in fines, the U.S. Justice Department said.

Although the names of sexual assault victims are usually withheld, Bernal has consented to have her name made public. Bernal goes by the name of Starlight and prefers to be addressed as a woman, the San Antonio Express-News reported.

In the trial, prosecutors presented DNA evidence and the testimony of Bernal, 23. Prosecutors said Gutierrez, 46, stopped Bernal on June 10, 2005, ordered her into his car, and drove her to a remote location where he physically and sexually assaulted her.

The defense argued in the trial that Bernal had consensual oral sex with Gutierrez and was lying about the incident in order to later win money in a civil lawsuit. Prosecutors said no suit had been filed.

"Using one's official authority to forcibly violate another individual, as the defendant did in this case, is disturbing and abhorrent," Wan J. Kim, assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, said in a news release.

Gutierrez, a 16-year police veteran who previously had been placed on indefinite suspension, was taken into custody following the verdict. (AP)

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