Uber Driver's Claim Of Innocence In Rape Rejected

LOS ANGELES, CA — A state appeals court isn't buying an Uber driver's claim that he was falsely accused of raping an intoxicated passenger at a North Hollywood motel in 2017.

The three-justice panel from California's 2nd District Court of Appeal on Tuesday upheld the conviction of Alaric Francis Spence in 15-page ruling. The panel concluded there was no evidence that Alaric Francis Spence reasonably believed the woman "had the capacity to consent."

According to the panel, his claim was undermined by surveillance video showing Spence carrying the victim into a motel room, where DNA belonging to Spence was collected from two used condoms found inside a trash can.

The woman had been picked up in downtown Los Angeles, and her phone's Uber data showed she had requested a ride to her boyfriend's apartment in Hollywood. However, the trip ended at the North Hollywood motel, according to the ruling.

Spence was arrested a day after the attack.

At the time of his arrest, Spence had been an Uber driver for six months, and police feared there could be additional victims. Spence had prior drug-related convictions. His arrest, along with other high-profile cases of sexual assault involving rideshare drivers, triggered demands for increased background checks by rideshare companies. The issue remains a major problem. Last month. Lyft issued findings on more than 4,000 report of sexual assault on its platform between 2017 and 2019.

Spence was convicted in November 2019 of raping an intoxicated woman involving the June 23, 2017, attack. Jurors acquitted him of two other counts -- kidnapping for rape and rape of an unconscious person.

"I've tried to process what happened to my body over time," the victim wrote in a statement that was read in court by a Los Angeles Police Department detective at Spence's sentencing in January 2020.

"Every night, I cried myself to sleep and used frozen spoons that I kept in my freezer to put on my swollen eyes in the morning."

Addressing the defendant directly, the victim wrote, "I forgive you, only so I can move on with my life."

The victim's mother said she needed to be in the downtown Los Angeles courtroom to face her daughter's assailant and to let him "know that what he has done is not right."

"I've worked so hard to raise (my daughters) and keep them safe, and you took all of that away in one night," the woman said. "May God forgive you."

The defendant countered that he had been "falsely accused" and that he had "no faith" in the court system.

Spence was sentenced to six years in state prison and ordered to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

City News Service and Patch staffer Paige Austin contributed to this report.