Attorney gropes inmate, says he’ll represent her if she becomes ‘sex slave,’ suit says

An attorney told an inmate he would represent her if she became his “sex slave,” then he assaulted her, according to an Alabama lawsuit.

The criminal defense lawyer, formerly an Alabama state senator, is named as the accused perpetrator in the Aug. 13 lawsuit filed in Calhoun County Circuit Court. McClatchy News reached out to his law firm for comment Aug. 13 and did not immediately receive a response.

The Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office confirmed to AL.com and The Anniston Star that it was investigating an alleged incident in the Calhoun County Jail involving an attorney and a female inmate.

On July 12, the attorney visited the woman in jail and tried to convince her that he would secure a better deal than her current attorney, according to the lawsuit.

He told her he could reduce the 15-year sentence she was facing because he knew the judge and assistant district attorney, the lawsuit says.

He’d take her on as a client if she paid him $2,500 and agreed to become his “sex slave” after she was released, according to the lawsuit.

The visit ended, but five days later, he came back and once again tried to get business for his firm, the lawsuit says.

The two of them discussed the case, and then, thinking the visit was over, the woman stood up and started heading toward the door. But she said the attorney grabbed her and started kissing her, according to the lawsuit.

She pulled back, and he asked if she was ready to go back to her jail cell, to which she said yes, the lawsuit says.

“If you want to go home then you are not ready for the visit to end,” he said, according to the lawsuit.

He’s accused of continuing to kiss her and grope her, then putting his hand around her throat until a corrections officer intervened.

The woman said she was handcuffed and shackled during the visit, per jail policy.

Inmates cannot consent to sexual contact while incarcerated, according to the Alabama Department of Corrections.

The detainee accuses him of sexual assault and battery, attempted extortion, false imprisonment, negligence, wantonness, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

As an attorney, the man had a duty not to inflict harm on the inmate, the complaint said.

“Sexually preying on a potential client in his care, who was facing a 15-year jail sentence, is conduct so outrageous in character and so extreme in degree as to go beyond all possible bounds of decency and to be regarded as atrocious and utterly intolerable in a civilized society,” the lawsuit reads.

She’s seeking compensatory and punitive damages.

Calhoun County is about a 70-mile drive northeast from Birmingham.

This story was originally published August 14, 2024 at 4:47 PM with the headline "Attorney gropes inmate, says he’ll represent her if she becomes ‘sex slave,’ suit says."