Gainesville man sentenced to life in prison for sexual assault on two young girls

Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Jermaine Lamorris Godbolt, 42, has been sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty of two counts of engaging in sexual activity with a child under 12 while in a custodial role. Senior Judge William Slaughter handed down the two life sentences after a non-jury trial. The charges are capital felonies.

Godbolt was arrested in May 2022 and has been in the Alachua County Jail since that date. The sworn complaint was filed in January 2021 after the grandmother of the victims saw a text to one of the victims that said the victim had been raped; when she asked the victim about this, she learned that the two sisters had been raped “every day” for several years when they were between the ages of 5 and 8 and Godbolt was dating their mother. One of the victims disclosed in a forensic interview that Godbolt told her he would “kill everybody” if she told anyone about the abuse.

Godbolt’s case dragged on for years while he repeatedly fired his lawyers and filed pro se motions without going through a lawyer. The trial was finally held on September 1 and 17, and the sentence was handed down on September 17.

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