A Cobb Superior Court Judge sentenced a Lyft driver to 35 years in prison Tuesday for raping a female passenger near her apartment in Cobb County in late 2016.
The Cobb District Attorney’s office said Jerome Antonio Booze, 40, of Decatur, was convicted by a Cobb Superior Court jury on Monday. Kim Isaza, a spokeswoman for the DA’s office, said the sentence was handed down by Judge Ann Harris.
Booze was charged in January 2917 after driving a female college student from a night of drinking at a bar in Atlanta to her Vinings apartment on Dec. 10, 2016. According to testimony at the trial, the woman’s friends called for a Lyft around 4 a.m. because she had become intoxicated and they didn’t want her driving home. They had been celebrating a friend’s 21st birthday.
According to prosecutors, the woman said she had flashbacks the next morning of having sex with someone, but said she had no memory of the Lyft ride or of getting home. She told her parents she had been raped and went to Grady Memorial Hospital for medical treatment before filing charges with Atlanta Police, who transferred the case to Cobb Police.
The attack occurred in the back seat of Booze’s car near her apartment building, according to prosecutors. Booze was indicted in February 2017.
Prosecutors said Booze initially told Cobb Police that he denied he had sex with the woman, then later said he did have sex with her but said she initiated it and that he didn’t know she was intoxicated.
During the trial, Booze testified that the woman held down his arm and climbed on him and reiterated that he didn’t know she was drunk.
That didn’t convince the jury, which convicted him on the sole charge of felony rape, Isaza said. Harris told Booze before sentencing that trial evidence showed the woman was incapable of giving consent.
“This predator exploited a position of trust and targeted a vulnerable, intoxicated female. This verdict demonstrates that those who prey on women who do not have the capacity to consent will be held accountable,” said Courtney Veal, Cobb assistant district attorney.
After his release from prison, Booze will serve the rest of his life on probation as a registered sex offender, Isaza said.
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