Former Rutland police officer and WRTA driver convicted for second time of raping woman in 2007

WORCESTER – A Worcester County Superior Court jury found a former Rutland police officer guilty of rape on Wednesday.

Jason D. Briddon was found guilty of raping a woman he met at a bar in May 2007. Sentencing is scheduled for Thursday.

The 12-member jury found Briddon not guilty of a further charge of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.

Briddon — a longtime Worcester Regional Transit Authority bus driver and a part-time Rutland police officer for three years at the time of the alleged attack — was originally charged in 2008.

His first trial ended in a mistrial, his second in a conviction.

However, that conviction was overturned by the state Court of Appeals in 2022 after Briddon argued that his defense attorney should have called his wife to the stand to offer him an alibi, as she did in the first trial. Attorney David R. Yannetti decided against it because Briddon and his wife were going through a contentious divorce at the time of the second trial.

In overturning the conviction, the appeals court judges agreed that Yannetti had made a significant error.

While Briddon was on bail after his first rape arrest, he was arrested again for raping another woman. He was convicted in the second case and sentenced to 10 to 12 years in prison in 2010. In the second case, he has already served his sentence.

According to the allegations in the first case, the then 27-year-old victim met Briddon at another bar after an argument with her boyfriend. After her boyfriend refused to come home, she left the bar in despair and befriended a stranger who invited her for a drink with her friends.

After they went to another bar, Briddon handed the woman an open beer. Soon after, she began to feel ill and expressed that she was weak and dizzy and wanted to go home, Assistant District Attorney Emily R. Meyers told jurors during opening arguments.

She accepted a ride from Briddon, but instead of giving her a ride home, he drove her to an apartment building, Meyers said.

As the evening progressed, the woman fainted. When she came to, the woman found Briddon on top of her having sex without her consent, Meyers said.

Defense attorney Darren T. Griffis said in his opening statement that the prosecution wanted the jury to turn a blind eye to the evidence and ignore inconsistencies in the woman’s testimony.

Judge Karin Bell heard the case.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Jason Briddon, former Rutland police officer convicted of raping woman in 2007