A Santa Clara County judge’s pretrial ruling has dramatically raised the stakes in a San Jose rape case. If convicted, 47-year-old Emari O'Garrow could face a life term under California’s habitual-offender rules. Prosecutors say he lured a woman to his apartment and raped her in February 2022; he was arrested later that month and has been held without bail at the Elmwood men’s jail in Milpitas since.
Judge Clears Norway Convictions For Use
Late last month, a Santa Clara County judge ruled that certain foreign convictions could be proven and used as prior strikes at sentencing if O'Garrow is convicted in the current case. Prosecutors say that this widens the potential penalty range and have identified several Norway-based victims as possible witnesses, as reported by The Mercury News.
His Record Abroad And Basketball Ties
European reporting shows O'Garrow moved to Sweden in 2003 and to Oslo in 2004 to play professional basketball and coach girls' youth teams, where several complaints followed. Norwegian courts convicted him in multiple rape and sexual-assault cases from the mid-2000s through the 2010s. He served nearly a decade behind bars there, according to coverage on Lykten.
How California’s Three-Strikes Law Could Come Into Play
Under California law, rape can count as a “serious” felony for three-strikes purposes, and prior qualifying convictions can expose a defendant to an indeterminate 25-to-life term if convicted of a third qualifying offense. Out-of-state convictions may be treated as strikes when prosecutors demonstrate that the prior crimes are substantially equivalent to California's serious or violent felonies, a framework central to understanding why the judge’s ruling matters, as summarized in federal court materials at FindLaw.
Defense Pushes Back
O'Garrow’s attorneys argue that admitting foreign convictions would be more prejudicial than probative, citing differences in procedure and jury requirements between Norway and the U.S. The Santa Clara County Public Defender’s Office has also signaled it may file a Racial Justice Act motion alleging selective prosecution, the defense told reporters and the court, per The Mercury News.
What’s Next
Pretrial fights over evidence and witness access are likely to dominate as both sides prepare for trial. Local reporting indicates that O'Garrow was arrested in February 2022 and remains in custody, as the parties continue to dispute which foreign convictions may be used, according to KNX News.
