Closing arguments concluded Friday in the federal case against Tony Klein, a former prison nurse accused of sexually assaulting women at the prison where he worked.
Klein worked at Coffee Creek, Oregon’s only women’s prison, for several years. More than two dozen women held in custody at the Wilsonville facility during Klein’s tenure filed complaints about his conduct.
The federal case included 19 charges related to accusations from 11 women along with four additional charges of lying under oath. Most of the accusations involved Klein coming onto women or forcing them into sexual acts against their will during what was supposed to be a medical appointment. Such actions, the government argued, constitute a violation of the women’s right, under the Eighth Amendment, to not be subjected to cruel and unusual punishment.
FILE: In this video screenshot, Tony Klein is deposed in November 2019 as part of civil litigation involving 10 women incarcerated at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility, who accused him of sexual abuse.
Video screenshot / Plaintiff deposition via Michelle Burrows
Women accused Klein of groping their breasts and genitals, exposing himself to them and in some cases forcing himself on them. The federal prosecutor argued that Klein was an opportunistic predator who acted unlawfully when he coerced women in custody into sexual acts against their will.
“He preyed on these women because he saw them not as orderlies, not as patients, but as the perfect targets,” a federal prosecutor, Cameron Bell, said in closing.
She said Klein abused his power as a nurse and as a staff member when he coerced women into sexual acts against their will and without their consent, betting they wouldn’t report him for fear they would not be believed.
“The women were resigned to their status at Coffee Creek — they were inmates, he was staff,” said Bell, who is with the Civil Rights Division at the U.S. Department of Justice. “He did not count on his victims coming into this courtroom to testify.”
The defense argued that Klein was innocent of all charges and had been set up by women who knew each other and were motivated by getting money from the state for their alleged abuse.
“This case isn’t about the MeToo movement,” defense attorney Amanda Alvarez Thibeault said. “It isn’t about if inmates should be protected, because of course they should. It isn’t about whether sex with a staff member in prison is OK, because of course it isn’t. This is only about the value of the accusations against my client…the value of those accusations was zero.”
In addition to the 11 women directly involved in the case, six additional women who had previously filed complaints against Klein were heard by the court. Pointing to inconsistencies in some witness testimony, Thibeault said that all 17 women who testified before the court about abuses by Klein were lying.
“Zero plus zero plus zero plus zero, 17 times over, is still zero,” Thibeault said.
The jury is now deliberating on the charges.
