Fired officer receives 8 years for sex assault
A jury Thursday sentenced a fired Harris County constable deputy to prison for eight years for sexually assaulting a pregnant mother during a traffic stop last year.
The district court jury took four hours to decide on prison time for 31-year-old Brandin Glispy, an ex-deputy with the Precinct 6 Constable’s Office, who prosecutors said assaulted two women in the six months he was on the job.
Glispy was facing up to 20 years after being convicted this week in a case that has raised criticism that Constable Sylvia Trevino did not move fast enough to get Glispy off the street.
Glispy, in a blue shirt, khaki pants and blue shoes, shook his head when the punishment was read in court Thursday. He started to cry as he was led to a holding cell in handcuffs. Because he was convicted of sexual assault, he has to serve at least four years of his sentence.
“We wish it had had been a not guilty, but we respect the jury’s decision,” said defense attorney Andrew Martin.
The sentence brought harsh words from Harris Count District Attorney Kim Ogg.
“Rapists posing as police officers are still rapists,” Ogg said. “While he wore a uniform, he violated the public trust and the sanctity of this woman’s body.”
‘Abuse of power’
Assistant District Attorney Lauren Reeder called the officer’s actions an abuse of power.
“This was an utterly grotesque abuse of power,” said Reeder. “Brandin Glispy used the power of the badge and his uniform to get what he wanted, when he wanted it. There’s no place in our community for that sort of entitlement.”
During the trial, Reeder had urged the jury to sentence Glispy to 20 years.
“The defendant was ‘The Law,’ and he thought he was above the law,” she told jurors in closing arguments. “Look at what he did to these women. That justifies the maximum sentence.”
Glispy’s attorney had argued that he should be put on probation.
He was convicted of putting his hands down a pregnant mother’s pants during a search after a 9 p.m. traffic stop in the 5800 block of Martin Luther King on April 24, 2017.
After the initial stop, Glispy directed her to another parking lot, but when he saw people milling about, he directed her to a secluded gravel lot next to an abandoned fast food restaurant.
After the assault, Glispy gave the victim his phone number.
He testified in his own defense and said he spoke to the woman only through her car window. He said she wanted to talk to him, but he did not give any details about his claim that they had a conversation.
That woman, who did not speak to reporters after Thursday’s verdict, was the officer’s second victim. Four months earlier in January 2017, the deputy cornered another woman in the restroom of a Popeye’s chicken restaurant. He sexually assaulted her, then attempted to force her to perform oral sex, prosecutors said. She was able to get away, and she testified against Glispy during the punishment phase of his trial.
Constable criticized
Because two women were victimized four months apart, Paul O’Sullivan, a businessman and resident of Precinct 6, watched the entire trial to see how the incident was handled.
After the verdict, he blamed Trevino, who was elected after her husband, Victor, was convicted of public corruption in 2014.
“After nothing happened to him after the first time, he was allowed to stay out there and hunt for four more months,” O’Sullivan said. “He was a rookie with no supervision.”
O’Sullivan, who is not connected to the case except as one of Trevino’s constituents, said that if there had been a thorough investigation when the first incident happened, there wouldn’t have been a second “Jane Doe.”
Lillian G. Lozano, chief deputy of Precinct 6, released a statement Thursday noting that Glispy was hired by the previous constable, Heliodoro Martinez, who held the office from 2014 until December 2016.
She said the office under Sylvia Trevino fired Glispy on April 27, 2017, three days after the second allegations surfaced. He was charged on July 5, 2017, after Precinct 6’s internal affairs unit coordinated with the Houston Police Department to investigate.
“As I will continue to reiterate, I will take immediate action against any employee that is found to be involved in criminal conduct or policy violations both on and off duty,” Lozano said. “We are grateful to the complainants that came forward so we could fire this predator and get him off the street.”
Glispy’s trial, presided over by District Judge Nikita Harmon, began Monday and ended with him being taken into custody after his conviction and transferred to the Harris County jail.
His attorney said he would ask the judge to set bail so Glispy can be free while he appeals the case.