Sacramento Adult Entertainment: Shermantine jury hears of chilling alleged rapes
SANTA CLARA — The Santa Clara County jury that last week convicted Wesley Howard Shermantine of four murders committed in San Joaquin County listened intently Wednesday as two women accused Shermantine of kidnappings, assaults and rapes stretching back more than a decade.
A 38-year-old woman testified Shermantine, in October 1987, drove her to an industrial park near Airport Way, held a gun to her head and ordered her to perform oral sex on him. When Shermantine couldn’t get an erection immediately, she said, he became incensed and beat and raped her.
After the alleged rape, the woman said, Shermantine dropped her off on Wilson Way. Later that night, she and some friends spotted Shermantine and chased him through central Stockton. Eventually, she said, they lost him. She never pressed charges.
“I felt it was hopeless, … because I was a prostitute and … I was scared,” she said.
Shermantine’s defense attorney, Douglas Jacobsen, grilled the woman about her prostitution history, which included convictions in 1992, 1994, 1996 and 1998.