A trial date was set Wednesday morning for a former Chattanooga police officer, just over a year after he was arrested on sexual battery charges.
Benjamin Dessalines was arrested on Nov. 29, 2018, and charged with felony kidnapping and felony sexual battery after allegedly taking a woman caught shoplifting to his apartment, fondling her and telling her he wanted to have sex with her.
The kidnapping charge was later dismissed during his preliminary hearing because Hamilton County General Sessions Court Judge Lila Statom didn’t believe prosecutors met certain criteria to charge Dessalines with kidnapping.
Her decision was based on part of the woman’s testimony, she said. The woman testified that Dessalines didn’t physically force her to go inside his apartment or get into his car, something Dessalines’ defense attorney, former Criminal Court Judge Rebecca Stern, elicited during cross-examination. As a result, only the sexual battery charge was sent to the grand jury and he was indicted on May 29 of this year.
Dessalines has been out on a $15,000 bond and showed up in court on Wednesday morning in a navy blue suit, his friends and family in tow.