Image: Eight Johnson City women who participated in a lawsuit against Johnson City over its handling of rape reports spoke at a February, 2024 press conference in Knoxville to push back on public statements suggesting victims shared fault in their assaults. Image Credit: John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookoout
***Note from The Tennessee Conservative – this article posted here for informational purposes only.
By Anita Wadhwani [Tennessee Lookout -CC BY-NC-ND 4.0] –
Nearly four years after explosive allegations first surfaced about a Johnson City serial rapist who preyed on women and children without consequence, a civil lawsuit brought by his victims has neared its conclusion.
The man at the center of the allegations, ex-Johnson City businessman Sean Williams, is now serving a 95-year prison sentence, convicted in February of child sex crimes and attempted escape. Williams, 57, faces other drug and sex charges in Tennessee and North Carolina.
But, for years, victims alleged Johnson City Police ignored or mishandled their reports of sexual assault while Williams remained free to prey on other victims. When Williams was finally arrested in 2022 out of state, a search of his electronics yielded images of more than 50 women and young children being sexually assaulted in his downtown Johnson City condo.
Johnson City officials in February agreed to settle a lawsuit brought by victims for $28 million, the largest legal payout in the northeast Tennessee city’s history. In November, the city approved an additional $2.64 million to settle claims brought by child victims.
Then, last week, a federal judge signaled approval for the last portion of the settlement in the case: $4.2 million to be divided among 350 women and minors who reported to Johnson City Police sexual assaults by perpetrators other than Williams between 2018 and 2023. The $4.2 million is a subset of the $28 million approved by Johnson City and will be divided equally among these victims, amounting to about $7,500 each. Lawyers for the original plaintiffs who will share the lion’s share of the $28 million settlement said how it will be distributed remains confidential.
Vanessa Baehr-Jones, an attorney representing victims with California-based Advocates for Survivors of Abuse, said the outcome achieved not just justice, but made victims feel “finally seen.”
“Justice can take many forms,” Baehr-Jones said in an interview with the Lookout. “It can be compensation, which we have here with a class settlement of $4.2 million. It can be system change, institutional change, which we also had here with the city’s agreement of equitable relief and years of monitoring going forward.
“And justice can be found in the process of bringing a lawsuit like this one where survivors are standing up for hundreds of women. The process gave these women a voice. It empowered them and it was inspired to others,” she said. Other attorneys bringing the case are Brentwood-based Heather Moore Collins with HMC Civil Rights Law and San Francisco attorney Elizabeth Kramer
As part of the settlement, the Johnson City Police Department agreed to four years of monitoring by an independent overseer, which includes detailed audits of 15 sex crime cases each year for the next two years. An outside consultant hired by the city had concluded police failed to collect evidence, interview suspects and witnesses and make arrests in numerous sex assaults reported to them over four years.
“The City Commission approved this settlement with the hope that it would help the victims begin to heal and to rebuild their lives,” a statement released by the city said.
“It will continue supporting measures that were put in place to ensure that reports of sexual assaults are properly and thoroughly investigated. The City Commission stands behind the Johnson City Police Department and its current leadership,” the statement said.
Two separate lawsuits challenging the police department remain ongoing.
In 2022, former special federal prosecutor Kateri Dahl accused the police department of protecting Williams through incompetence or corruption and forcing her out of her job when she raised questions. Dahl’s lawsuit against the city remains ongoing.
A third lawsuit filed by an alleged victim of Williams who suffered life-threatening injuries after she said she was pushed out of Williams’ five-story condo during an attempted sexual assault also remains ongoing.
The lawsuit is expected to formally end within weeks after a federal judge requested wording changes to the final settlement, Baehr-Jones said.
One Response
Higher taxes coming.