Sentence is 5.25 years in border agent rape case

Brian Dick, 36, faced a maximum sentence of 7.5 years in prison on a single count of sexual assault. He was sentenced to 5.25 years and must serve at least 85 percent of the sentence.

The victim testified she went to a fellow Border Patrol agent's home on Jan. 28 after playing softball and having four beers at a local restaurant.

When she went to bed, Dick and other agent watched ESPN and drank more beer. The woman said she awoke about 2 a.m. to find someone pulling down the bed covers along with her pants and beginning to straddle her.

Jurors were told the woman tried to push Dick off, but he restrained both of her hands above her head with one hand and raped her, then fell asleep.

The woman dressed, went to her car and called a friend and 911.

Although she'd seen Dick at two or three other softball games, the victim said she didn't know him.

Defense attorney Rick Lougee told the jurors the sex was consensual and that the woman initiated the encounter. Once she realized a romantic interest might find out about it, she felt she needed to make up a rape claim, Lougee told jurors. Since she is a federal agent, she had no choice but to continue the deception, Lougee said.

The defense attorney also told jurors there were inconsistencies in the woman's story and that it was physically impossible for the rape to have happened as she described it.

In court filings and in court Monday, Lougee told Pima County Superior Court Judge Charles Sabalos that his client deserves a new trial because Deputy Pima County Attorney Susan Eazer tricked the judge into admitting two pieces of evidence - portions of Dick's statement and photographs taken of Dick the morning of the event.

Because the jury saw those items, jurors convicted Dick because of how they felt about him, not because of the evidence, Lougee said.

Dick's statement made him sound like an "immature, drunken frat boy," Lougee said.

In the photos, Dick looked "dirty, tired and remarkably unappealing," Lougee wrote in court documents.

If the statement and the photos had been suppressed, nine out of 10 juries would've acquitted Dick because there is little evidence showing he is guilty, Lougee said.

Eazer told Sabalos she did not mislead him and that the statements and photos were admissible and relevant. They simply buttressed her contention that the victim was not likely to willingly have sex with a mere acquaintance who reeked of beer, was still in his sweaty softball uniform and looked like he did in the photos, Eazer said.

After denying the motion for a new trial, Sabalos allowed the victim and Dick to speak.

The victim took Dick to task for tarnishing her reputation, enjoying himself "as if nothing happened" and calling her a "liar" after the verdict was announced. She also criticized his colleagues for coming to court to support him while wearing their badges.

"After the verdict, I received nonstop calls from private numbers from your buddies. You and your buddies should be ashamed of wearing a badge and a uniform," she said.

The woman told Dick she hopes he spends his days in prison thinking about what he did to her and asking himself how he would feel if his mother, sister, cousin or girlfriend had been raped.

Dick apologized to his fianceé, family, friends and the victim for his "inappropriate actions" that night.

Lougee told Sabalos that Dick is a good man who spent years serving his country in the Air Force and the Border Patrol.

Every day of Dick's sentence will seem like 10 because of the danger he'll be in, Lougee said.

Last week, Lougee asked Sabalos to bar photographers from shooting Dick's face at the sentencing hearing for fear he'll become a target in prison. Sabalos denied the motion.

Dick, who was forced to resign from the agency after his conviction, must register as a sex offender upon his release from prison.

Contact reporter by Kim Smith at 573-4241 or kimsmith@azstarnet.com