Former police officer pleads guilty in assault case

 The Associated Press

GEORGETOWN - A former Georgetown police officer accused of raping a drunk woman while on duty in October has pleaded guilty to one count of kidnapping and one count of improper sexual activity with a person in custody.

Jimmy Lewis Fennell Jr., 35, entered the plea Tuesday. Under the plea deal, prosecutors and Fennell's attorney, Bob Phillips, asked for two years in state jail for the charge of improper sexual activity with a person in custody, and 10 years of probation for the kidnapping charge.

Fennell would surrender his peace officer's license but would not have to register as a sex offender under the deal.

Fennell could not be reached for comment. His attorney said only Fennel could say why he accepted the plea deal but ``I imagine avoiding the risk of consecutive life sentences was high on the list.''

Sentencing for Fennell was set for June 24 in District Judge Burt Carnes' court. The judge can accept the deal or change it. If Carnes changes the deal and Fennell doesn't agree, the case could go to trial.

The charges against Fennell brought renewed attention to the 1996 death of Fennell's fiancee. He was a suspect in the 1996 strangling of 19-year-old Stacey Stites in Bastrop County until investigators ruled him out. At the time, he was a Giddings police officer.

Stites' slaying led to the 1998 conviction of Rodney Reed, who is on death row. At the March hearing, Reed's attorneys argued the actual killer was Fennell.

Reed's attorney Bryce Benjet said Fennell's plea agreement Tuesday is relevant to his client's appeals.

``This confirms everything we have been saying, and now Jimmy Fennell has acknowledged his abuse as a police officer,'' Benjet told the Austin American Statesman for its Wednesday editions. He said he plans on using Fennell's guilty plea for another appeal.

Phillips, Fennell's attorney, did not seem worried.

``That's the same Rodney Reed who originally denied even knowing the dead girl until being confronted with the fact that his semen was inside her vaginal vault,'' Phillips said. ``Then his statement was 'Oh, that Stacy Stites, that's the one I was having an affair with.

``So is a convicted killer and notorious liar who is trying to avoid the death penalty at any cost, including straining the credulity of any thinking person, to be believed?''

Officials say that last fall, Fennell and another officer responded to a domestic disturbance call in which a woman and her boyfriend were fighting. Fennell was accused of driving the intoxicated woman from her home to a secluded area, asking her to dance for him and then sexually assaulting her, according to court documents.

Fennell was fired Dec. 20. On Jan. 3, he was put back on paid administrative leave. He resigned from the department Jan. 10.

Fennell originally was charged with aggravated sexual assault, aggravated kidnapping, improper sexual activity with a person in custody and official oppression - all of which could have exceeded two 99-year terms if convicted by a jury.

lac