Witness credibility a focus in ex-officer's sex abuse trial

Closing arguments are set for Monday.

Since the trial began Nov. 2, many of the women's descriptions had traced a similar arc:

The officer stopped them while out on patrol, ran background checks for outstanding warrants or conducted searches that turned up drug paraphernalia, then forced them to have sex to avoid arrest.

The vulnerability of victims was a common thread in a recent Associated Press investigation that found about 1,000 officers nationwide had lost their badges in a six-year period for sexual assault and sex-related misconduct.

Throughout the trial, Adams challenged the accusers' credibility, enumerating their arrest records, searching for inconsistencies in their stories and questioning why most didn't come forward until police investigators approached them.

Under Adams' questioning, one woman acknowledged she had slipped out of the motel room prosecutors had arranged for her the night before and procured marijuana and the hallucinogen PCP.

In 2012, an Oklahoma jury took just 40 minutes to acquit Stephens County sheriff's deputy Brandon Balthrop of assaulting two women and a teenager during traffic stops.

Balthrop's attorney, Jim Kee, said he highlighted problems with each accuser's allegations, from inconsistencies in testimony to one's criminal record and drug abuse.

"There's a lot of deference and respect given to law enforcement," said Florida state's attorney Dave Aronberg, whose office prosecuted the former Boynton Beach officer.