The closing arguments in the trial of Frederick Dozier Jr. were rife with emotion today as the prosecutor and Dozier’s public defender wrapped up their sides for the jury.
Dozier, 32, is charged with 26 counts, including attempted murder, attempted rape, sexual assault, kidnap and forced oral copulation. If found guilty of all charges he could face a life sentence.
The daylong closing, which included jury instructions, was drawn out for effect to ensure that jurors understood the importance of their decisions. A few dozen people, including District Attorney George Gascón, dropped in to hear the arguments.
Assistant District Attorney Marshall Khine spoke directly to the jury, telling them all of the reasons he believes that Dozier is guilty of brutally kidnapping and sexually assaulting three women last year.
“We have the luxury of having so much evidence [that] you could take some out of the equation and arrive to the decision that he is guilty,” Khine told jurors.
Khine said Dozier “freely roamed our city streets, stalked and sexually attacked women.” He called Dozier a “monster that caused their nightmares.”
He spoke extensively, with the aid of a PowerPoint presentation, about the attempted murder charge, explaining to the jury that because one victim repeatedly attempted to look at his face during the assault, Dozier allegedly choked her to the point of strangulation, which burst all the blood vessels in her eyes.
Dozier, in a burgundy button-up shirt, shifted in his seat when the charges were explained to the jury. He did not testify during the trial.
“The defendant had been hunting women in his own backyard,” Khine said when describing the proximity of the alleged crimes, all of which were along the 24th Street corridor.
Greg Goldman, Dozier’s public defender, questioned the DNA evidence the prosecution brought forward throughout the trial and stressed the discrepancies between the victims’ testimonies and Dozier’s statement to San Francisco Police Department Special Victims Unit Sgt. Joseph Nannery, one of the chief investigators on the case.
“It isn’t justice when the prosecutor’s case is rubber-stamped by the jury,” Goldman, stressing the need for the jury to view the facts impartially.
Goldman said that the prosecution’s circumstantial evidence, including the identification of Dozier by one of the victims from a book containing photos of 30 men, does not prove Dozier was the assailant.
He further inferred that Dozier’s statement to Nannery made it seem that the sexual acts were in some way consensual.
“When you look at the injuries … there are innocent ways to interpret how they got there,” he said of the victims.
Goldman, who also used a PowerPoint presentation, showed the jury a photo of a typewriter, saying that technology is constantly changing and, as with the typewriter, can become outdated. He used this argument to bolster his argument that the DNA evidence is unreliable. He pleaded with the jury to not “rely on simple technology.”
Lastly, he posed the question, “Does Mr. Dozier have the character of a sexual predator?” leaning on last week’s testimony of Dozier’s girlfriend, who described him as supportive and gentle.
Jury deliberations in the case begin Tuesday.