A Prince William County jury recommended Thursday that James
Craig Summers, a former Fairfax County police officer, be sentenced to 7 years
in prison.
A former Fairfax County police officer was convicted
Thursday in Prince William County Circuit Court of forcibly sodomizing his
ex-girlfriend in 2009.
James Craig Summers, 56, a Burke resident who served with
the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department for 30 years before he became a
police officer, was found guilty on the third day of a jury trial. Summers was
arrested in May 2012.
The victim told the court that, in one incident while she
was dating Summers, he grabbed her arm, twisted it around her back, handcuffed
her and then forcibly anally sodomized her—despite her pleas for him to stop.
After deliberating for several hours Wednesday afternoon and
part of Thursday morning, the five men and seven women recommended that Summers
serve a seven-year sentence. A judge will make the final decision when Summers
is sentenced on Aug. 2.
In a case lacking any physical evidence, the verdict largely
depended on the testimony of the victim. Prosecutor Kristina Robinson urged the
jury to consider who was the more credible witness, then characterized Summers
as "a manipulative personality" who had multiple affairs both before
and after the relationship ended.
"He hasn't changed. James Summers is who James Summers
is. He's a liar. He's a cheat. And you can't believe a word he says,"
Robinson said.
Summers admitted the affairs, but denied hurting the victim.
In closing arguments, the defense tried to paint a portrait of the
ex-girlfriend as a jilted lover, who was bent on getting back at Summers for
the shabby way he treated her.
"I would never do something like that—violence on
another human being," Summers said.
The victim said that she had not reported the information
for two and a half years largely out of fear that Summers would retaliate.