The White Ripper

“Well it’s all right, even if they say you’re wrong.

Well it’s all right, sometimes you gotta be strong.

Well it’s all right, as long as you got somewhere to lay.

Well it’s all right, everyday is Judgment Day.”

…The Traveling Wilburys

Prologue

The rape trial, People of the State of California vs. Joshua Charles Clayton, took place in the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in downtown Los Angeles. On July 25, 2018, after deliberating for less than six hours, the jury returned with its verdict.

​Josh Clayton, an ex-NFL running back, Super Bowl MVP, seven-time pro-bowler, and the 2014 NAACP’s Man of the Year stood accused of raping country music star Carrie Clarke, a slender beauty with strawberry blond hair and striking blue eyes. The rape occurred on November 19 at an after party celebrating the 2017 American Music Awards.

​The packed courtroom fell silent. Throngs outside the courthouse milled with impatience. A worldwide audience watched on TVs and Internet streams, captivated.

Standing at the defense table, Josh tried not to falter as the voice inside his head screamed, End this right now! Confess! Take your punishment like a man! He squeezed his eyes shut and saw himself gut punch the country singer, knocking the wind from her. He ripped off her low cut dress, the same dress the defense showed to the jury and the world via a now famous photograph taken at the party, a pic of Carrie bent over with her breasts on prominent display. On the stand, the defense insisted she respond to the definition of promiscuity as cited by the Collins Dictionary of Medicine. On the stand, she was slut shamed with tales of drunken blow jobs in high school.

​Judge Caroline Woo pounded her gavel and addressed the jury. “On the first count of the Indictment, felony rape as defined by the State of California Penal Code 261, how does the jury find?”

​The jury foreperson, an elderly Hispanic man with gray hair and a gray beard, looked at the paper in his hand and read, “We, the jury, find the defendant Joshua Charles Clayton not guilty.”

​Banging her gavel, Judge Woo tempered the outcry, for and against, in the courtroom. Outside the courtroom and around the globe, polarized reactions were the same.

Josh’s mind took him back to waking up in his den at home after the assault and realizing the depraved magnitude of what he had done. The alcohol, cocaine and what he later learned was a joint laced with PCP were no excuse. The evil inside him could never be forgiven. He didn’t think about having to register as a sex offender. Didn’t think about custody in state prison for up to eight years. Didn’t consider the nationwide reaction fueled by racism, gender inequality and the burgeoning #MeToo movement. He thought only of his wife and three daughters and how he had ruined their lives.

Judge Woo said, “On the second count of the Indictment, Sexual Battery pursuant to California PC 243.4, how does the jury find?”

The jury foreman replied, “We, the jury, find the defendant Joshua Charles Clayton not guilty.”

Still in the den in his mind, Josh closed his eyes and saw himself collapsing to his knees, vomiting in a waste basket then curling into a fetal position on his Oriental rug. He cried with short and deep sobs, panicked by the certainty of his front door chiming and police dragging him away in handcuffs in front of his family. The thought of his little girls seeing him like that fed his anguish with unbearable despair. He knew what must be done. He removed his Smith & Wesson .44 Magnum from the wall safe and stuck the barrel of the weapon in his mouth.

​Judge Woo continued, “On the third count of the Indictment, Sodomy pursuant to California PC 286, how does the jury find?”

​The jury foreman looked from his notes to the judge. “We, the jury, find the defendant Joshua Charles Clayton not guilty.”

​People let loose with pent emotions. Some shouted angrily at the jurors, came at them and needed to be restrained. Others thrust fists of triumph into the air, clapped and cheered and tried to reach Josh to congratulate him up close.

The judge spoke over the ruckus. “I’d like to thank the jurors for their participation under these difficult circumstances. The defendant is free to go. Court adjourned.” She rapped her gavel.

Josh looked at the jury and mouthed the words “Thank you.” He shook hands with his defense team, patted his lead council on the shoulder then hugged his wife with tears flowing down their cheeks.

Then Josh saw her. Amid the chaos of the crowded courtroom, still in her seat, Carrie Clarke fixated on him with pure hatred in her dead eyes, a strange ear-to-ear grin etched across her face.