A Catoosa County, Ga., jury on Tuesday convicted James Leon Works of holding a woman against her will in a Fort Oglethorpe house and raping her multiple times.
The jury convicted Works of three counts of rape, two counts of aggravated sodomy, three counts of aggravated assault, four counts of possession of a firearm or knife in commission of a crime and one count of false imprisonment. Works will be sentenced at 1 p.m. on April 4. In Georgia, each rape conviction carries a sentence of 25 years to life in prison.
James Leon WorksThe accuser, an ex-girlfriend, said she visited Works at his uncle's house in Fort Oglethorpe in December 2015. She testified that he held her in the house, beating her, slamming her face into a piano and forcing her to remain naked over four days. She said he also had sex with her against her will. She didn't resist, per se, but she told the jury she only let him have sex with her because he was no longer beating her.
Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit Assistant District Attorney Clay Fuller showed the jury photos of the victim after the incident, with bruises on her temple, below her eye and on her chest.
Works' attorney, public defender David Dunn, argued the accuser was not reliable. In particular, he pointed out that she accused Works of a similar crime in Chattanooga in 2014. In that case, she said Works beat her, urinated on her and stuffed her head into a toilet. Months later, she said Detective Karl Fields pursued a sexual relationship with her, an accusation that ultimately led to Fields' firing.
Amid the controversy, Works pleaded guilty to lesser charges of possession of methamphetamine and assault. He was released after serving 13 months in jail.
The accuser, meanwhile, sued the city of Chattanooga over the controversy with Fields, though the case died after her attorneys withdrew.
If Works did attack her, Dunn argued, why would the woman return? From the stand, she testified that Works manipulated her.
"He could hold a congregation, if he wanted to," she said March 20. "But he is also Satan on Earth."
During the trial, Fuller called to the stand four other women with prior relationships to Works. All four said that he beat them at some points, and a couple said he manipulated them into participating in abusive sexual acts.
One woman said Works made her dig a shallow hole and lie in it naked; he partially covered her with the dirt. Another woman said he beat her at Camp Jordan in East Ridge in December 2016. She said Works threatened her with a hammer and forced her to perform oral sex on him.
He was charged with domestic assault, kidnapping and rape in that case. But Assistant District Attorney Andrew Coyle said prosecutors did not think they could prove the allegations, and Works pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of attempted aggravated domestic assault. He received a three-year sentence, with the second two years suspended.
In all, Works has been arrested 13 times in the Chattanooga area for charges of domestic assault, kidnapping or rape.
Assistant District Attorney Chris Arnt also prosecuted the case over the past week.
Contact staff writer Tyler Jett at 423-757-6476 or tjett@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @LetsJett.