A car thief who chanced upon a sleeping teenager in an idling car -- then tried to rape and strangle her as she fought him off -- was sentenced Monday to 40 years in prison.
Multnomah County Circuit Judge Kathleen Dailey determined that James Ezell Clark is a “dangerous offender,” noting that he had twice raped before.
He was found responsible for first-degree rape in juvenile court in 1993, when he was 12. He was convicted of first-degree rape again in 2002, when he was 22. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison for the second rape and had been out for about two years when he encountered the sleeping teenager in the car in the early morning hours of Sept. 18, 2013.
According to a September 2014 trial:
The victim, age 19, had been waiting for her friend in a car in downtown Portland. The car was idling to keep the heat on.
Clark slipped into the driver’s seat and drove off. At some point, he realized the teenager was in the car. He parked the car in a lot in inner Southeast Portland’s industrial district, where the car couldn’t easily be seen from the road.
James Ezell Clark
The teen awoke to Clark sexually assaulting her. She fought back, and he continued to force himself on her -- inflicting bruises and scrapes as he squeezed his hands around her neck so she couldn’t breathe.
During the struggle, the door of the car flung open. A passing bicyclist, Stephen Bridges, was on his way home from band practice when he decided to veer off his path to find the source of the screams.
With his phone in hand and ready to call 911, Bridges got closer to the car. That’s when the victim burst out pantless and screaming for help. Bridges dropped his bicycle. And together, the teen and Bridges ran toward Southeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Grand Avenue, trying to summon help.
Clark drove off. The stolen car was found about a week later.
Portland police were able to link Clark to the crime because of DNA found on the victim. Clark's DNA had previously been entered into the legal system because of his prior convictions.
During the trial, Clark's defense didn’t call upon a single witness. A jury found him guilty of all counts against him, including first-degree kidnapping, unlawful sexual penetration and attempted rape.
According to a memo written by prosecutor David Hannon, the victim said that after the attack, she was unable to work and lost her apartment. She hasn’t been able to find an apartment owner who would rent to her since she was evicted, and she most recently has been living in motels, Hannon wrote.
The teen said she wished Clark “would go away forever,” according to the memo.
-- Aimee Green