The jury in the trial of former school food service worker Frederick Dozier Jr., 32, pronounced him guilty today of 25 counts related to the sexual assault of three women along the 24th Street corridor last year. He was found not guilty on a charge of attempted murder.
In the speedy trial, the nine men and three women of the jury deliberated for four days before reaching a guilty verdict late Friday on charges that included attempted rape, sexual assault, forced sexual penetration, forced oral copulation, kidnapping and robbery. The reading of the verdict by presiding judge Anne Christine Massullo’s clerk was postponed until today.
Two of the three victims in the case were present to hear the verdict, one weeping outside the courtroom before the verdict was read. The victims’ names have not been released.
The jury members, who were polled at the request of Dozier’s public defender, Greg Goldman, were stoic during the reading, as was Dozier, who occasionally whispered with his counsel.
District Attorney George Gascón took a seat in the gallery during the reading, and at a press conference regarding the verdict said, “This defendant will go to prison for life.”
“Frankly, he is an animal,” Gascón said.
“This case was put together in, quite frankly, record time,” Gascón said in praise of inspectors Joseph Nannery and Kate Gillespie, who investigated the case, and Assistant District Attorney Marshall Khine, who prosecuted.
Dozier’s family refused to comment.
Dozier’s first attack occurred at 2:50 a.m. on June 17, 2011, on 24th Street and South Van Ness Avenue. He grabbed the victim and put his hand over her mouth, telling her not to scream, then dragged her to a nearby driveway, where he sexually assaulted and robbed her before running away, according to the investigation.
At 4 a.m. on Nov. 18, on 24th and Potrero streets, Dozier grabbed, choked and punched another victim, robbing her and twisting her neck. After sexually assaulting her, he hit her with a blunt object and fled.
The final assault was on Dec. 8 at 6:20 a.m., on 24th and Fair Oaks streets. Dozier approached a woman and choked her unconscious after she tried to get away. The victim awoke to find Dozier sexually assaulting her. He was found guilty of punching her, pushing her face against the concrete sidewalk and running away with her purse.
Charles Moser, a member of the Fair Oaks Community Coalition, a group that formed in response to the violence after the third victim was attacked, said the community raised over $16,000 for the victims.
When the community heard of the third assault, “We were shocked and horrified,” Moser said. “We immediately came together to decide what to do.”
The Fair Oaks Community Coalition was responsible for putting up posters in the Mission District with a composite illustration of the perpetrator. The flyer was key in locating Dozier.
“This is a result of the community coming together,” Gascón said.
Dozier will be sentenced on Dec. 14 at 1:30 p.m. in Department 25 of the Hall of Justice at 850 Bryant St.
