Bray rape conviction reinstated; he gets 15 years

Thomas Bray, a 45-year-old former anesthesiologist and former part-time anatomy instructor at Central Oregon Community College, was sentenced Monday to 15 years in prison for a brutal sexual assault he committed in 2011, after the Oregon Supreme Court remanded the case and original 25-year sentence to Deschutes County last year.

Bray met the victim in 2011 on an online dating site, District Attorney John Hummel said Tuesday in a news release announcing the sentencing. (The site was match.com, according to previous news accounts.)

Shortly after matching online, they met for drinks at a downtown Bend restaurant. After a few drinks, they walked to Bray’s apartment, where he mixed the victim another drink. Shortly after finishing her drink, she felt lightheaded, Hummel said.

Bray “then brutally assaulted her for an extended period of time, resulting in visible injuries to her jaw, eye, neck, shoulder, and upper back,” Hummel said.

Bray was convicted at a 2012 trial and sentenced to 25 years in prison on two counts of first-degree rape, two counts of first-degree sodomy and one count each of strangulation and fourth-degree assault.

The assault victim, Jennifer Bennett, has spoken in public against turning over her computer’s search information. NewsChannel 21 and other media have a general policy of not identifying sexual assault victims, but Bennett appeared on NBC’s “Today” program in 2012 and also identified herself during on the record in an interview with The Oregonian.

Bray filed an appeal of the 2012 conviction, and last year, the Oregon Supreme Court vacated the conviction and remanded the case to the Deschutes County court to decide whether Bray and his attorneys should have been provided information from the hard drive of the victim’s computer to aid his defense at trial.

In the midst of litigating the hard drive issue, Hummel said, the parties reached a resolution of the matter that resulted in Bray accepting responsibility for his actions and agreeing to allow his 2012 convictions to be reinstated.

On Monday, Circuit Judge Michael Adler reinstated those convictions and sentenced Bray to 15 years in prison for the crimes he was convicted of more than six years ago.

Deputy District Attorney Matthew Nelson prosecuted the case since last year “and fought hard to deliver justice for the victim of this crime,” Hummel said.

“Former Deschutes County District Attorney Patrick Flaherty and former Deputy District Attorney Brigid Turner represented the state at trial and we would not have achieved what we achieved yesterday without their efforts in 2012,” the DA said.

Since last year, the victim has been represented by attorney Melanie Kebler.

Hummel concluded his announcement with this statement :

“Eight years, ago a woman was brutally assaulted in downtown Bend by a wealthy and powerful man. She had the courage to come forward to hold him accountable. I’m sure she never imagined it would take eight years for justice to prevail, but unfortunately, the wheels of justice sometimes grind slowly. She impressed everyone she met with her laser-like focus on one thing: telling the truth every step of the way to ensure that the defendant never again hurt someone like he hurt her. Yesterday, she achieved her goal. Our community owes her our gratitude.”