Deputy acquitted of rape; found guilty of violating oath of office

<p>A former Gwinnett County deputy has been acquitted of abducting and raping a lesbian Athens woman and found guilty of a lesser charge.</p><p>A Clarke Superior Court jury deliberated for 2 1/2 hours on Friday before finding Derrick McGriff, 26, not guilty of charges of kidnapping, rape, false imprisonment, aggravated assault with intent to rape and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.</p><p>McGriff was found guilty of violating his oath of office. He faces a possible maximum of five years in prison.</p><p>The 22-year-old woman claimed that on June 9 McGriff forced her into her apartment at gunpoint, then raped her after making derogatory statements about her sexual preferences.</p><p>McGriff's attorneys said that the woman made up the story to conceal from her partner that she had consensual sex with a man.</p><p>The woman was arrested in December for stalking her former lover while possessing a handgun. Police say the woman told them after being arrested that she planned to commit suicide in front of her former lover, who had ended their relationship a week prior.</p><p>McGriff told the jury Friday that the encounter was nothing more than a chance meeting in a bar that progressed to a romantic tryst at the woman's apartment.</p><p>Assistant District Attorney Edward Brumby said that in assaulting the woman, McGriff had seriously abused an oath of office he took as a sheriff's department employee.</p><p>McGriff was originally suspended from duty, but later resigned.</p><p>A sentencing date has not been set.</p><p>___</p><p>Information from: Athens Banner-Herald</p>