A Columbia County jury deliberated about two hours Thursday before finding a former Army captain guilty on all counts in a set of 2016 attacks on two spa workers.
The jury found Damione Evans, 47, guilty of rape, aggravated sodomy, two counts of sexual battery, two counts of kidnapping, robbery and aggravated battery in the 2016 incident at King’s Day Spa on South Belair Road.
Columbia County Superior Court Judge Sheryl Jolly sentenced Evans to a string of consecutive sentences that will put him behind bars for two life sentences plus 82 years.
Jolly noted a jury previously found Evans competent to stand trial and that Evans had a master’s degree and had managed a health club prior to the incidents.
In a subsequent 2021 incident that led to the revocation of Evans’ bond, video from an Atlanta spa showed “an Asian woman beaten horribly” by Evans.
Jolly sentenced Evans to two consecutive life sentences for rape and aggravated sodomy, two consecutive 12-month sentences for each sexual battery charge and four consecutive 20-year sentences for the kidnapping charges, robbery and aggravated battery charge.
The case centered around graphic surveillance video viewed by jurors that showed Evans raping and forcibly sodomizing one of the victims for an extended period of time in the spa’s kitchen area.
Evans was accused of knocking the other victim unconscious and giving her a brain injury.
Evans’ attorney, Paul Howard, drew frequent admonitions from Jolly for raising points not presented in or backed by evidence, both in front of and away from the jury.
Early Wednesday, she had the former Fulton County district attorney taken into custody for about 30 minutes after repeatedly warning him to maintain decorum.
Wednesday afternoon, Jolly ended court early and sent jurors home “to let (Howard) think about this,” after he threatened to tell jurors during closing arguments the day spa was a “house of prostitution.”
Howard repeatedly took issue during the trial for the length of time it took for Columbia County to try his client for the crimes. Evans’ previous attorney, who sought a mental evaluation for him, had negotiated a 25-year sentence in 2021.
Howard also condemned Chief Assistant District Attorney Natalie Paine’s reliance on surveillance video to depict the alleged assaults rather than call the victim in to testify.
“Victims don’t have to talk to anybody they don’t want to,” Jolly said.
