Ex-judicial marshal pleads guilty to reduced charge

BRIDGEPORT — A former judicial marshal accused of sexually assaulting a woman he had assisted in the Milford courthouse was granted an unconditional discharge Friday after pleading guilty to a reduced charge.

Ezekiel “Zeke” Carr Jr., who resigned as a marshal following his arrest in November 2018, pleaded guilty before Superior Court Judge Kevin Russo to one count of disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor.

Carr had been charged with first-degree sexual assault, third-degree sexual assault and first-degree unlawful restraint.

State’s Attorney Joseph Corradino told the judge that he decided to reduce the charges against Carr after reviewing the evidence and after notifying the victim’s lawyer.

Corradino said surveillance video outside the Milford courthouse only showed Carr and the victim walking together.

“It would have been impossible for the state to establish beyond a reasonable doubt that there was a lack of consent by the complainant. The complainant had made similar allegations in the past and had been convicted of assaults on men,” Corradino said.

The resolution gives Carr a criminal record while sparing the complainant of an expected “vigorous cross examination,” by Carr’s lawyer, Hugh Keefe, Corradino said.

Carr and Keefe declined comment as they left the Fairfield County Courthouse after the hearing.

Police said the victim complained on Oct. 22, 2018, that she had been at the Milford courthouse for a legal matter and asked a marshal, whom she later identified as Carr, what courtroom she should be in. Police said the woman told then that later, during a court recess, Carr had approached her and told her to take a walk with him so that he could discuss her case with him.

While walking in the direction of the train station, police said, Carr allegedly grabbed the woman by the neck and roughly kissed her.

“I told him I didn’t brush my teeth, but he kissed me anyway. He shoved his whole tongue down my throat. While he’s kissing me, he put his hands in my pants,” police said the woman told them. “I told him I had a disease, that I couldn’t have sex. He was like, ‘I don’t care.’’’

She said Carr then raped her, according to police. After the assault, she told police, Carr told her to go back into the courthouse and “put her smile back on.”

Police said that when the woman went back into the courthouse, she told a family relations counselor what she claimed Carr had done to her. The counselor then told police.

Police said that when they later confronted Carr with the woman’s allegations, he said he had sex with her, but that she had dared him to do it and that it had been consensual.