SAN DIEGO (NEWS 8) – Trial began Thursday for a man accused of violently attacking and sexually assaulting two women in 2016.
Prosecutors said Jeremiah Williams forced one woman into her University City apartment and raped her at gunpoint. He then did the same thing to another woman at a motel in Grantville the very next day, according to prosecutors.
Williams’ alleged violent sexual attacks in the summer of 2016, left the community on edge as authorities searched for a suspect.
It was not until a few months after the consecutive assaults, however, that Williams was arrested in Arizona and extradited to San Diego.
On Thursday, Williams was removed from court for an outburst he made during the prosecution’s opening statement.
The prosecution portrayed the 26-year-old Jeremiah Williams as a brutal rapist who savagely attacked two women.
The prosecution told the jury Williams followed the first woman from her garage to her apartment on August 13, 2016.
He then allegedly robbed her and forced his way inside her University City apartment at gunpoint where the prosecution said Williams raped her on her bed and then forced her into the shower.
After the assailant fled, the victim sought help from a neighbor and reported the attack – leading to an all-out manhunt for the suspect and leaving the larger community on edge.
The following day, according to the prosecution, Williams attacked a woman at a Motel 6 in Grantville, whom he had agreed to pay for sex ahead of time.
That encounter inside the motel room, according to the prosecution, turned violent.
The defense, however, countered none of the items stolen from the first victim, including a laptop, cellphones and jewelry were ever found or connected to Williams.
The defense also discredited the second victim’s account to authorities.
Jeremiah Williams faces 15 felonies, including rape, sodomy, false imprisonment and robbery.
His trial will resume Friday morning.
