Crime & Courts

Second rape trial results in Anchorage man's conviction for 2012 attack

A 41-year-old Anchorage man was convicted Wednesday of raping a woman at a Fairview motel in 2012, in a second trial after the original jury could not reach a unanimous decision.

After a three-week trial, Jeremy Larson was found guilty of first-degree sexual assault, District Attorney Clint Campion said in a prepared statement.

The state first tried to prosecute Larson in August 2014, Campion said. The jury was unable to reach a verdict on the more serious first-degree sex assault charge but found him guilty of fourth-degree assault.

Larson drank with his victim at the Travel Inn Motel on Gambell Street during the early hours of June 7, 2012. She was an acquaintance of Larson's friend, according to the state. The friend left the room at some point during the evening, and Larson physically and sexually assaulted the woman.

"The victim was able to escape the room, where she got the attention of hotel employees and residents who found her in the parking lot of the hotel, crying and screaming and not wearing pants," Campion wrote.

Larson's sentencing is set for June 3. He faces sentencing guidelines that generally result in 20 to 30 years in prison, though the maximum is 99 years.

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