Detroit nurse sentenced after sexual assault conviction

Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Ma'am, if you could please state your name, spell it, and then just direct all your comments to me, if you would, please. Okay? Elise Williams, A-L-E-C-E-W-I-L-L-I-A-M-S. All right. Thank you. Go ahead, ma'am. Okay. Your Honor, my name is Elise Williams. Please forgive me if I stumble over my words. This isn't something I thought that I would ever be doing. I'm fighting the embarrassment just to be standing here in front of everyone. but I need you to hear it for me. You know me. I sat in this chair and told you in this courtroom what he did to me on August 18, 2025. I'm not going to go through it all again. You heard it. What I want you to know today is what it has done to me since. I was at Signet Grace because of my drinking. I passed out. A stranger called for help, and I woke up in the hospital bed. I was there to be taken care of. He was my nurse, and he came into my room. again and again and he did those things to me because he knew I was too drunk to stop him and he thought I was too drunk to be believed. I want to be very clear about something, Your Honor. Nothing he did to me in that room was medical care. He was not treating me. He was not checking on me. He was not helping me. He was wearing scrubs and standing in the hospital room but what he did to me had nothing to do with being a nurse. It was rape. The hardest part for me is the shame. I feel dirty, I felt disgusted with myself. For a long time, I thought it was my fault. That night I went home and told the father of my boys what happened. And even while I was telling him, I was asking myself what I did to make it happen. If I hadn't been drinking, if I had been in my right mind, I had to ask the nurse that I didn't even know if it was my fault before anyone told me no. I know now that it wasn't. He was sober. He was the nurse. I was the patient. But knowing that and feeling it are not the same thing. Some days I believe it, and a lot of days I don't. I went to the hospital because of my addiction. The place that was supposed to help me get better is the place where I was raped. A few days later, when the ambulance brought me back there, I heard his voice in the hallway calling Ms. Williams, and I was terrified. I'm still scared to go to the hospital. When I told people there what happened, they didn't believe me, and they asked me if it was consensual. Then I had to come here, sit across the room from him, and answer questions about my drinking and my blood alcohol and whether I was just after money in front of everybody. That was humiliating, but I didn't, because what he did was wrong, and because I knew I wasn't the only one. Getting up on the stand and telling the whole world what this man did to me It was one of the hardest things I have ever done in my life. Every time I have to talk about it, I live it all over again. It is so painful. It is a nightmare that never stops, and I pray every day that it will go away. My mind doesn't have a digestive system, Your Honor. I can't just swallow this and let it pass. It's not something I will ever forget. It has left me afraid of hospitals and afraid to trust people, because now I know there are real monsters out there. He was one of them. He wore scrubs and a badge, and I trusted him. And I don't know how to trust like that again. And to him, I want to say this. What you did to me and what the hospital let you do over and over to women who came there needing help is something I will never be able to understand. I pray every day and every night that someday I will find peace in my heart and that someday I will be able to love again. Your Honor, I am working on myself every day. First, I'm trying to find the strength to live my life with dignity. And then one day, I want to help other people who are where I was and to be there for someone in need the way nobody was there for me that night. He wore a nurse's badge. People came to him on their worst days, I'm sorry, in of their worst lives, sick and scared and not able to help themselves. And they trusted him because of that badge. He is a predator of the worst kind. What he did to me was not a mistake, and it was not one bad night. He looked for the women who were drunk or sick or sedated, the ones he thought nobody would ever believe, and he went after them. This is who he is, and that hospital man, or should have known exactly who he was. Women before me tried to tell them, nurses tried to tell them, they kept them working anyways, and they kept giving him patients like me. He did what he did because the hospital let him, and he did it again and again. I am asking you to give him the strongest sentence that the law allows so he can never do this to another woman and so he never takes care of another patient again. Thank you so much for listening to me. All right, thank you, Ms. Williams. Ms. Broughton and Ms. Moore? Yes, Judge. Judge, as the court is well aware here, the people have scored the guidelines in accordance with where the pre-sentence investigation report scores them. The guidelines that we're looking at are 78 months to 130 months. That calculates out to 6.5 years to 10.83 years. Now, as the court is well aware, by both the Tanner Rule and statute, the court is actually not allowed to schedule the defendant to a sentence that is greater than 10 to 15 years. That 10 to 15 years is on the upper end of the guidelines, but it's still a within-guidelines sentence. And so the people are asking the court to follow the guidelines and, of course, abide by the Tanner Rule, but give the defendant the maximum possible sentence that is allowable under this. Now, as we articulated in our sentencing memorandum, there are a number of different reasons why that sentence is appropriate, why the maximum possible sentence is appropriate here. And I think what it ultimately comes down to is, I already argued the predatory conduct a few minutes ago, but I think one of the overwhelming themes of the three-week-long trial that we had here was that each victim went to the hospital or to the medical care place that they went to seeking help. They went there because they needed help, whether of their own volition, whether they were taken there by EMS or Ms. Williams, they went there seeking someone who was able to help them. And what they got was someone who exploited their vulnerabilities and took advantage. And then when they were already at a place where they were supposed to be able to trust the people taking care of them and where they were supposed to be able to get the help that they needed they then had very little options for what they could do once they were exploited and we saw that time and time again in all of the testimony that we've heard from these victims that some of them did report right away and what happened was that they were not believed they were turned away their vulnerabilities were turned against them and they were made to feel like they had no further options and then they come into court and they're met with questions of why didn't you report sooner why didn't you do this why why didn't you do that? It's because they had already gone to the hospital for help, they were exploited, victimized, and they didn't know where else to turn. And that exploitation of Ms. Williams, as well as the other victims, is exactly why the defendant's behavior warrants the maximum possible option under the law. So I ask, Judge, along with Ms. Brodin, after the three week long trial that we had in here, that the court give a within guideline sentence on the upper end and sentence the defendant on count one to 10 to 15 years. Yes, thank you. Your Honor, so I, too, was here for the three-week long trial, and I heard everything that was said. And while my client and I disagree with the verdict, we understand that the verdict is a verdict. The jury has decided, and the jury speaks through the verdict. But, Your Honor, I'm asking you to keep in mind of what else the jury said. My client was found not guilty and acquitted of three of those counts. He was convicted on two. Majority of the cases, the charges, he was acquitted on. I believe that goes to all the inconsistencies that we heard throughout this entire trial. Now, Judge, the prosecution is asking for the top of the guideline, 10 years. And Ms. Moore laid out all the reasons why. However, I ask you to send it to him, the low end or the middle. And seven adds up to what the plea offer initially was. So the prosecution was fine with him pleading a seven-year minimum. Even after knowing everything they know now, after all of their thoughts and all of their theories about him being a predator and him exploiting these different women, they were aware of all the cases and all the facts. And this court had a glimpse of their case, of their opinion, of their theories, through their 404(b) motion they filed. It was about 20 pages, very detailed. And this court also offered a cop. And this court's cop was not 10 years for this case. So I think that to be okay with him receiving a minimum of seven years, knowing everything they've already known, knowing what all the allegations were from Ms. Williams as well as the other alleged victims, taking that into consideration and agreeing that if he had agreed to the seven years, they would have been fine with it. But to now jump up to now having this long explanation as to why 10 years is appropriate when they were willing to do seven, I think about that punishes my client. I don't think this court should send a message to this community, to defendants, that if you go to trial, you'll be punished with a higher sentence. If seven was good enough from the very beginning, and they believed seven was fair, because this was a plea offer that they took a long time to discuss. They discussed it personally with Kim Worthy. They thought it was appropriate. I think it's disingenuous to jump to now 10 with no new reasoning, no new facts. Because, again, all of the women, for the most part, their allegations were very similar. I think the trial highlighted all of the inconsistencies and credibility issues, but again, I am asking this court to not sentence my client at the highest point. And, Judge, I do understand the seriousness of these allegations, a CSC third and a fourth, but I'm asking this court to remember that he was still acquitted on the majority of his charges. And that while this court has heard the 404B witnesses, he remains innocent of those allegations and he holds on to that innocence. He has not had his day in court on those charges. So I think that the court is going to give those 404B witnesses any type of consideration. Please keep in mind that these are allegations. My client, this court is aware of his criminal history, and it's non-violent, it's OWI, I think there was a driving on a suspended license. He has worked as a registered nurse for 11, 15 years, and we understand all these allegations are coming out. But in a 15-year span, he has these group of allegations that's coming in, and this court knows the defense position on that. So I am asking that you do not sentence him to the max, his highest, which is 10, because that is not appropriate here for what he has been found guilty on. This court has seen all types of defendants. I mean, we know that there are people who have pled to or been found guilty of murder, of killing someone that gets 10 years, 12 years. I can name some. I do not believe my client being convicted of CSC 3rd and 4th, that should result in a 10-year sentence. I think a lower, but still within guidelines, number is more appropriate. And again, Judge, I ask you to look at the prosecutor and this court was okay with a 6- or 7-year sentence if this was to play it out. And he should not be punished with additional years because he decided to exercise his constitutional right of going to trial. that's it thank you Mr. Figueroa-Vargas anything you'd like to say yes your honor I stand here before all of you barely holding on to my own composure a little bit about me I moved here the United States from Puerto Rico when I was 16 with dreams of having a great education and having a great chance at life I don't pay all those things in spite of all adversities I worked really hard in school in college I am considered the first Puerto Rican to ever graduate from my university's nursing program. I worked so hard to achieve all that. I had a career that fulfilled my life, a career that I loved, a career that I was proud of, a career in which I cared for many people of all ages, different backgrounds, different illnesses, different conditions, acute injuries that threatened their lives. I have taken part in saving countless lives. I have compressed so many chests until my sweat drops have fallen off my face, until their heartbeat came back. I have been the shoulder to many tears, the holding hand of someone who takes their last breath when no one else was around. I have placed my hands inside severe injuries that require no description. I have performed amazing things. I have made a difference between life and death in so many souls. All of this is now gone because I have been found guilty of a crime I did not commit and for which I still hold my innocence. I had no need to do all those ugly things. I was happily married and filled with love in my life with my wife my beautiful wife please take consideration in my sentencing please be fair do not sentence me to an extreme and harsh sentence to the point that I may be too late to see older family members that I may be a forgotten homeless or that I might lose my life in this time I was a very good nurse I was liked by many patients by many co-workers. I am not a monster. I did take care of her. I kept her safe and free from additional injuries. I took her to CT, I took her to the restroom, despite all her own cooperation. Thank you, Your Honor. This is a long case, a lot of facts, came out a lot of testimony from a lot of different complainants, including but not limited to Ms. Williams. Certainly the court had some discussion prior to the trial about what might be a just resolution. Part of the reason people make offers, the judges make case evaluations, is to temper with mercy and also avoid the need to have people who are victims relive their nasty experiences. And certainly when the court thinks about all of the facts and circumstances that are laid out before a trial, they don't compare, like in this case, to the facts when they're presented at a trial. And so I think, you know, while the people made an offer certainly less than what they're advocating now, just because they did that doesn't mean that they're stuck with it or that somehow that should be the limit of any sentence that's imposed. A nurse is put in a position of profound trust, like a physician. We tell them things that are private. We see them when we're suffering, and we depend on them in difficult times. Mr. Figueroa-Barrios violated that position of trust. He did not see the victim as a person in need of care or treatment, but rather as an object who could satisfy his sexual desires. that type of behavior is intolerable cruel and the community needs to be protected from it so with that it's the sentence of the court that has to count one Mr. Figueroa-Barrios is sentenced to 120 months to 15 years in the Michigan Department of Corrections has to count to 12 months to two years in the Michigan Department of Corrections those sentences are right concurrent to each other additionally you must complete sexual abuse prevention programming or other treatment when you're referred by the field agent you must register as required by the Michigan Sex Offender Registration Act to comply with all the requirements of that act you must provide a completed copy of the Michigan Sex Offender Registration Form to your field agent on your first in-person contact following vacating your residence and any address change address verification or changing your status with an institution of higher education and at each address change or personal verification period you must present your Michigan operators license chauffeur's license or personal identification card to the field agent at your first in-person contact you must not have verbal electronic or physical contact with Elise Williams she had direct or through another person and you must not be within 1,000 feet of her residence or place of employment you have to pay crime victims assessment in the amount of $130 you have to pay court costs in the amount of $1,300 State Court Administrator's Office has determined that $1,300 is the average cost of the court of a case that proceeds through it, and it covers salaries and benefits for court personnel, goods and services necessary for the operation of the court, and necessary expenses for the operation and maintenance of court buildings and facilities there will be $136 state costs and restitution shall be determined within 180 days. Mr. Barrios, it's my duty to advise you of the constitutional right to a court review of your conviction and sentence if you cannot afford an attorney to prepare post-conviction motions or perfect an appeal this court will appoint an attorney for you at public expense or provide that attorney with such portions of the transcripts as that attorney may require to prepare post conviction motions or perfect an appeal you're further advised if you wish to file an appeal or motion the request for appointment of an attorney must be made in writing and filed with the clerk of this court within 42 days of today's date sir do you understand your appellate rights Do you have any questions about your appellate rights? Not at the moment. Have you received written notice of those appellate rights? Yes, we received the notice. My client has initialed it and tendered it back to the court. Okay, thank you. Anything else? Ms. Worms? Not anything else. Browns or Ms. Howell? I'm sorry, Judge. Anything else? No, sorry. All right. Thank you, everyone. Have a nice day. Thank you.