{"id":90740,"date":"2025-12-11T23:11:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T23:11:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/90740\/"},"modified":"2025-12-11T23:11:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T23:11:11","slug":"man-with-sex-crimes-history-in-norway-convicted-in-san-jose-rape","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/90740\/","title":{"rendered":"Man with sex crimes history in Norway convicted in San Jose rape"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN JOSE \u2014 Jurors have convicted a South Bay man of raping a woman at his apartment three years ago, and he could face life in prison because his serial rape history in Norway<\/a> can be counted against him in his sentencing.<\/p>\n

\"EmariEmari O’Garrow, 47, has been convicted of the rape and attempted rape of a woman in San Jose in 2022, a crime that could carry a life sentence because of his serial rape history when he lived overseas in Norway. (San Jose Police Dept.)\u00a0<\/p>\n

Emari O\u2019Garrow, 47, was found guilty of rape and attempted rape Tuesday in connection with a Feb. 2, 2022 assault at his San Jose apartment following a month-long trial. He is being held in the Elmwood men\u2019s jail in Milpitas, where he has been in custody since his arrest roughly two weeks after the reported attack.<\/p>\n

In a second set of deliberations held Wednesday, jurors affirmed five rape convictions issued against O\u2019Garrow more than a decade ago in Norway. That means Judge Javier Alcala can consider them as prior offenses for O\u2019Garrow\u2019s sentencing \u2014 expected to occur next year \u2014 escalating his prison exposure to a potential life term.<\/p>\n

Two victims from his Norway convictions, including a woman who was a teen when she was raped, traveled to the Bay Area to testify against him.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are deeply gratified by the jury\u2019s verdict, which\u00a0delivers a measure of justice that has been long overdue,\u201d Deputy District Attorney Aidan Welsh said. \u201cThis defendant\u2019s actions have caused profound harm to so many people for so many years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Welsh added: \u201cWhat I am most struck by, is what put a stop to that is three survivors putting their lives on hold, to stand together against an incredibly violent and dangerous offender. They came together from across the world to ensure he did not harm anyone else, and I want to thank them for their courage and perseverance.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Garrow\u2019s attorney with the public defender\u2019s office did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.<\/p>\n

A woman, identified by this news organization as Jane Doe because she is a victim of sexual assault, had accused O\u2019Garrow of raping her on Feb. 2, 2022, after she met up with him and a group of friends at a Campbell bar the previous night. She told police he convinced her to come to his apartment under the pretense that another couple would also be there, which did not occur. Doe says she spurned O\u2019Garrow\u2019s repeated romantic advances over the course of the night.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Garrow was alleged to have escalated those advances to sexual touching that Doe rejected, followed by him undressing her and physically restraining her while she was inebriated. Doe said O\u2019Garrow, who was a foot taller and outweighed her by at least 50 pounds, raped her as she resisted. After she left the apartment, she reportedly called a friend and went to a nearby hospital for a sexual assault forensic exam.<\/p>\n

Police detectives obtained a search warrant for the defendant\u2019s apartment and found bedsheets described by Doe, but by the time they arrived they were in a clothes dryer, indicating they had already been laundered. On Feb. 14, 2022, O\u2019Garrow was arrested; he was charged with rape soon after.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Garrow\u2019s defense scrutinized Doe\u2019s credibility, which included highlighting her initial omission of having used cocaine the night of the encounter. Before trial, they sought to cite a subsequent, unrelated rape allegation against a Los Gatos man who was investigated but not criminally charged; a judge prohibited that case from being presented to the jury.<\/p>\n

The defense also objected to the court allowing O\u2019Garrow\u2019s previous rape convictions in Norway to count as prior offenses in the San Jose case. They argued it violated his due process in part because the method behind those convictions is not equivalent to U.S. criminal law, including permitting non-unanimous jury verdicts.<\/p>\n

In a pretrial brief, O\u2019Garrow\u2019s public defender signaled she might pursue a Racial Justice Act claim on the grounds that despite being presented with similar allegations, prosecutors filed charges against O\u2019Garrow, who is Black, but did not charge the Los Gatos man, who is white.<\/p>\n

Court records outline a disturbing sexual assault history for O\u2019Garrow, a Los Angeles native who moved to Oslo, Norway in 2004 while pursuing a professional basketball career. While playing for a team there, he also coached an associated girl\u2019s youth basketball team.<\/p>\n

After years of being the subject of sexual harassment complaints while coaching the team, he was criminally indicted in 2012. According to court records, a teen victim told authorities that O\u2019Garrow said after raping her: \u201cNo one will believe you.\u201d Other Norway victim accounts established a pattern of him physically overpowering them while they screamed, cried and fought back, while he made statements including, \u201cYou know you want this.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Garrow was convicted in 2014 of raping a 16-year-old player and a 17-year-old player, both in 2005; two women he dated in 2006 and 2010; and a woman he was acquainted with in 2012. He was also convicted of attempting to rape, in 2010, another woman acquaintance. He was incarcerated until 2021, when he returned to the United States.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Garrow has been remanded to jail and is scheduled to return to court Feb. 3, with his final sentencing tentatively set for April or May.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN JOSE \u2014 Jurors have convicted a South Bay man of raping a woman at his apartment three…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":90741,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[48025,3622,7359,30496,30498,30497,236,7563,88,90,89,198,50343],"class_list":["post-90740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-conviction","tag-court","tag-district-attorney","tag-emari","tag-norway","tag-ogarrow","tag-police","tag-rape","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news","tag-santa-clara-county","tag-serial"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90740"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90740\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}