Trial to begin in sex assault case

Kim Smith

Monday, July 23, 2001 | 9:51 a.m.

The trial of a Las Vegas man accused of drugging and sexually assaulting three women on videotape is expected to start Tuesday, one month after he backed out of a plea agreement.

If convicted, Clarence Dozier could receive multiple life terms. Had he gone through with the plea agreement, he would have received one life prison sentence with parole eligibility after 10 years.

Dozier, 40, initially agreed to plead guilty to one count of administering a drug in the commission of a felony and three counts of sexual assault after District Judge Mark Gibbons ruled that the videotape of the sex acts could be shown to a jury.

Dozier was later allowed to withdraw from the deal after he told Gibbons his former attorney said he would get a maximum sentence of 10 years.

According to court documents, Dozier was arrested after one of his alleged victims reportedly woke up nude and found Dozier videotaping her.

Dozier, she claims, ran outside with the videotape when she confronted him. She called police.

When police arrived, they found a backpack on the ground containing sexually explicit photos, prescription drugs and a tube of lubricating jelly. Inside Dozier's truck was the videotape.

Another alleged victim, a former girlfriend, told Gibbons during a hearing in April that Dozier drugged and sexually assaulted her on videotape three times without her knowledge.

She only learned of the videotape, she said, following his arrest.

Judging from the clothing she was wearing and the furniture in the room, two of the three assaults occurred after they broke up, the woman said.

As Gibbons watched the videotape, the woman testified about the various acts she said Dozier committed without her consent.

"There you can tell there is no muscle control on my part," the woman pointed out. "I loved this man. When I had activity with him, it was mutual, not one-sided."

Some of the acts she never would have agreed to had she been conscious, the woman said.

Dozier testified that he and the woman often initiated sex with each other while one of them was sleeping.

He and the woman never discussed the individual acts or the videotaping of them because they were involved in a committed relationship with a healthy sex life, he said.

Dozier acknowledged he never showed the woman the videotape. He insisted, however, that had she wanted to watch the videotape, she had easy access to it.