BOSTON (WHDH) - A Suffolk County Superior Court jury on Thursday found a Virginia man guilty of raping his sick co-worker after he helped her get back to her Boston hotel room following a night of dinner and drinks last year.
Marc Gibson, 46, of Centerville, was convicted of two counts of rape and one count of secretly photographing an unclothed person, according to Suffolk District Attorney Rachael Rollins.
Gibson and the victim were part of a group of security consultants staying at the Seaport District’s Renaissance Hotel in October 2018. During the trial, the victim testified that she felt sick after dinner and drinks, so Gibson helped her to her room and into bed.
Evidence showed Gibson took her keycard, returned to her room later, and forced himself on her sexually, according to investigators.
Prosecutors say Gibson also took explicit cellphone photos of the victim without her knowledge while she was unconscious.
The woman testified that she initially tried to move her body away but that she felt scared and unable to fight Gibson, who weighs 270 pounds.
The guilty verdict was handed down after Rollins says she filed an emergency motion to the Supreme Judicial Court requesting the restoration of the model rape jury instructions because the trial judge stated he would be instructing the jury in a manner prosecutors contended was unjust and unfair to the rape victim.
The presiding judge stated that there was insufficient evidence of violence to support a finding of forcible rape, according to Rollins. The judge further explained that he intended to use his own jury instruction – rather than the standard version authorized by the SJC to inform the jury that they could convict Gibson only if they found that the victim was too intoxicated to consent.
On Tuesday, a justice directed the judge to use the standard jury instruction for rape, including a provision on force, which states that “if a person submits because of fear it is not consent.”
Gibson is slated to be sentenced on Dec. 11.
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