MILWAUKEE (AP) — A former Milwaukee police officer acquitted of fatally shooting a black man, sparking two nights of riots, pleaded guilty Thursday to lesser charges in sexual assault cases that had gotten him fired.
Under the deal with Dominique Heaggan-Brown, prosecutors dropped the most serious charges of second-degree sexual assault. He pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution and obtaining someone’s image without their consent, and pleaded no contest to one count of false imprisonment. Heeggan-Brown faces up to 15 years in prison when he is sentenced Feb. 20. He had faced decades in prison if convicted of sexual assault.
In June, a jury acquitted Heaggan-Brown for killing Sylville Smith, 23, after a brief foot chase Aug. 13, 2016. Smith was armed, but prosecutors who charged Heaggan-Brown with first-degree reckless homicide argued the officer was unjustified in using deadly force because Smith was throwing his gun over a fence.
Heaggan-Brown’s attorneys, however, said their client made a split-second decision to defend himself. Smith and Heaggan-Brown are black, but the predominantly African-American neighborhood where the shooting happened stirred the long-held distrust in police by minorities in the city.
One of the sexual assault charges stemmed from a case that happened one day after Smith’s shooting. The victim in that case told police Heaggan-Brown, 26, assaulted him after a night of drinking at a bar where they watched coverage of the ongoing riots.
Using photographs and other data from the officer’s cellphone, prosecutors determined Heaggan-Brown sexually assaulted another unconscious victim in July 2016. Prosecutors said Heaggan-Brown also photographed that victim naked without the person’s consent.
Data from the cellphone also led prosecutors to charge Heaggan-Brown with soliciting prostitutes.