Defendant had earlier been sentenced to 160 years in prison for rape

Staff Writer

rseaborn@pickenssentinel.com

PICKENS COUNTY - The man who pleaded guilty last month for the 2006 murder of Clemson student Tiffany Marie Souers had been sentenced in 1988 to 160 years of imprisonment for the rape of a Florida woman.

The sentencing phase of the trial of Jerry Buck Inman began Monday with testimony by three women who had been sexually assaulted by the man who his attorneys say wants to die for his actions.

A Tampa woman testified that during the early morning hours of December 14, 1987, she was awoke to find a man kneeling near her bedside.

"I woke up with an uneasy feeling like someone was around," she said. "I saw a white male kneeling next to my bed holding a gun to my head."

The man had a revolver in his right hand, she said.

"I said 'who are you' and he said 'shut up,'" the woman said.

Inman gave the victim pieces of pre-cut rope and told her to tie the hands of her roommate, she said.

"I tied her hands loosely behind her back," the woman said. "Then he tied me up with my hands behind my back."

The victim said she was wearing jeans and a tank top, and could feel the cold metal of the gun against the back of her neck.

"He reached around me and started unbuckling my pants and I said 'please, no,'" she said. "And he said 'shut up.'"

The victim said Inman raped her three times as her roommate lay bound on the other side of the bed.

After the assault, which lasted about 20 minutes, Inman demanded the two women give him a car and money, the woman testified.

"He said if I called the police, he would come back and kill me," she said.

When he left the women's apartment, they immediately notified law enforcement, who apprehended Inman not far from their home, she said.

Thirteenth Circuit Deputy Solicitor Betty Strom told the court that the Florida judicial system sentenced Inman to 30 years for the sexual assault, 30 years for robbery, 30 years for armed robbery, 30 years for kidnapping the victim and another 30 years on kidnapping charges for the roommate, five years for grand theft, and five years for aggravated assault.

The sentences were to run concurrent, she said, with the most time Inman would serve on the charges being 30 years.

However, on Sept. 1, 2005, Inman was released from prison, after serving only 17 years.

The victim, who testified that she had not been permitted to speak about the impact Inman's crime had on her during his sentencing, said she was notified of his release from the Florida prison system by letter.

"I received a letter saying they were letting him go," she said. "I called and asked them if there was anything I could do to keep him inside, but they said it was too late."

A second woman testified that on May 23, 2006, Inman broke into her Alabama home while she was at work and had confronted her when she returned to her house during a lunch break.

"I woke up that morning and got myself and my daughter ready for the day and we left the house at about 6:55," she said.

She both locked and dead bolted her door, she said.

After dropping her child off at a bus stop, she continued on to her place of employment, she said.

She returned to her home for lunch, she said.

"

I unlocked both locks and then put some food into the microwave for lunch," she said. "I pinned up my hair and then put some cloths into the dryer."

The woman was preparing to eat her meal when someone approached her from behind, she said.

"I was just about to eat when someone came up behind me and covered my mouth with his hand and put a knife to my throat," the woman said. "He told me to be calm and he would not hurt me."

As the man tied the victim's hands behind her back, she started to pray, she said.

"I prayed out loud," she said. "I told him that God loved him."

The man led the victim into the bedroom and made her sit on the bed, then tied her feet together and put her in a closet, which he blocked with a chair, she said.

After about 15 minutes, the woman said she pushed against the door until the chair broke.

Two weeks later, the victim said she identified her attacker as Inman when she saw his picture on a national newscast reporting the murder of a Clemson student, she said.

A third victim told the court that Inman raped her in front of her two-year-old daughter.

The Tennessee woman said that on May 22, 2006, her husband left early that morning for work and, as usual, her daughter would come into their bedroom and the mother and child would sleep for a few more hours before beginning their day.

"A little after five I woke up with someone on top of me and a knife at my throat," she said.

The man asked where her money and jewelry was kept and forced her to show him the

locations before taking her back into the bedroom and tying her hands behind her back with a bra he found on the floor.

"I was kneeling in front of the bed, facing the bed, and my little girl woke up and started crying," she said. "I tried to reassure her.

"I heard him unbuckling his belt and I said 'oh no, please don't do this,'" she testified.

The man forced the woman to turn around and sexually assaulted her, she said.

"He raped me with my daughter watching," she said.

The victim said she recognized Inman as her attacker during a news broadcast reporting the murder of Tiffany Souers.