Alvin Campbell, brother of Massachusetts attorney general, on trial for alleged sexual assault
The sexual assault trial of Alvin Campbell, the brother of Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell, began Monday at Suffolk Superior Court in Boston.
Alvin Campbell is accused of posing as an Uber driver and raping or assaulting nine young women in Boston between 2017 and 2019. He was also charged with assaulting a correctional officer last year.
Prosecutors said he picked women up outside a concert at TD Garden, and Boston bars The Harp and Lansdowne Pub, among other locations.
"A common denominator in the attacks is evidence that Campbell masqueraded as a rideshare driver and in one case a bar employee, and targeted women at venues in the downtown Boston area who were too intoxicated to consent to sex or to resist his assaults," prosecutors said in a criminal complaint. "He used his own cellphone to record his crimes against these defenseless victims."
They say Campbell assaulted the women either in his car, at their homes, or at his own home. Investigators said after he was arrested for one rape, they say his phone showed videos and pictures of women he had assaulted for years.
"That was Alvin Campbell's type: Women who had drank so much that they wouldn't be able to protect themselves," prosecutor Erin Murphy said. "Women who were so far-gone that he could easily get them into his car, where he could then do whatever he wanted to them."
Campbell did previously work for Uber, but investigators say he left the company before the alleged crimes. The district attorney's office said that when his car was seized, it was "festooned with Uber stickers and logos."
The defense says he owns his own transportation company, and that this was consensual sex with each alleged victim. The defense argues that their memories are not accurate because of how much they had been drinking.
"Memories aren't perfect, especially when alcohol is involved, and that will be on full display in this trial," defense attorney Andrew Courossi said. "The evidence will show you that not having a memory of doing something doesn't mean you didn't do it. It doesn't mean that you didn't intend to do it. It doesn't mean you weren't awake for it. It doesn't mean you weren't actively participating in it."
The alleged victim, who prosecutors say broke the case wide open, was the first alleged victim to testify. She ended the day on the stand and will be back on Tuesday morning.
Attorney General Campbell released a statement about the trial before it started.
"As my brother's trial begins, I am praying for the survivors and all those affected. It takes extraordinary courage to come forward, and they deserve dignity and respect," the attorney general said. "This is an incredibly difficult situation for everyone involved, and I carry that weight with me, including in my prayers for my brother. The case is now before the court, and I respect the judicial process as it moves forward."
