A former University Medical Center employee, convicted of sexually assaulting two patients while on duty in the psychiatric ward in April and May of 2001, was sentenced to 10 years in prison Tuesday morning.
Rudolph T. Johnson, 47, previously pled guilty to two counts of aggravated sexual battery, which carry a maximum sentence of 20 years each.
Lloyd Snook, Johnson's attorney, said the case was particularly difficult because both Johnson and the two victims gave unreliable accounts of the two incidents.
"It's really hard to figure out what should happen," Snook said. "We pled guilty to something that doesn't fit either version of events."
Johnson, called by Snook to the witness stand, claimed that both incidents were consensual. He alleged that the first victim "pulled me down on her and massaged my legs" and the second victim also invited him to make sexual contact.
Johnson admitted to having sex with the first patient but denied penetration occurred with the second.
"I did not rape" the first patient, he said. "I did have intercourse with this lady."
Commonwealth Attorney Elizabeth V. Killeen argued that, because the patients had received serious pain medications, they were largely unable to resist Johnson's advances.
Killeen presented medication records for the first victim, which indicated she had received heavy dosages of Ativan - a common sedative in the same family as traveler's drugs such as Valium and Serex.
"These levels [of Ativan] approach those of a patient undergoing anesthesia," said Dr. Julia Pearson, supervisor of the toxicology unit in the state division of forensic science called to the stand by Killeen.
Killeen said that the two sides agreed to convict Johnson of aggravated sexual battery because of the difficulty of going to trial in a rape case.
"The primary factor was that, especially in the case of the first woman, there were issues of whether she was conscious," Killeen said. She said cases of drug-aided rape require that the victim be either unconscious or unable to communicate to get a conviction.
"Cases involving the administration of drugs are very difficult," she added.
In Johnson's defense, Snook called to the stand Johnson's wife, Dorenda Johnson, who made an emotional testimony to Johnson's integrity as a husband and a father.
"Ruddy is a very caring and giving person," she said. "My children love their father and need their father."
Johnson's sons are 7 and 9 years old.
Killeen recommended that the judge sentence Johnson to seven and a half years for each assault count, while Snook argued that the judge use the sentencing guidelines for the case, which recommended an average of about six and a half years jail time.
In his closing statement at the time of his verdict, Charlottesville Circuit Judge Edward L. Hogshire said he was particularly concerned with the fact that the two victims were under Johnson's care.
"The events took place in a hospital," he said. "There have to be consequences, and I don't think the guidelines address this kind of thing."
Hogshire also said that he believed 10 years was an appropriate sentence for such a case.
"This is one of the more difficult cases," he said. "I think overall this is fair"
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