Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, April 3, 1993 TAG: 9304030152
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
13-YEAR-OLD GIRL'S RAPE CHARGES ARE THROWN OUT
One night last spring, a 13-year-old Roanoke girl told police that two men forced her into the back seat of a sports car, drove to a wooded park and took turns raping her at gunpoint.It was a frightening story - not just because of what supposedly happened to the girl, but of what almost happened to the men she accused.
The men - who had faced life in prison if convicted - were cleared this week after DNA testing cast serious doubts on the 13-year-old's story.
At a hearing Thursday in Roanoke Circuit Court, prosecutors asked that rape, abduction and firearms charges be dropped against Darren Lamont Cobbs, 21, and William "Munch" Dungee, 20, both of Roanoke.
One question - why would a girl make up such serious charges, as the defense asserted - was not addressed during the brief hearing.
Defense attorneys Allen Wilson and Ray Byrd said afterward they believe the 13-year-old fabricated the allegations after her father caught her coming home late the night of May 6, 1992.
Cobbs and Dungee were ready to argue that in an effort to keep herself out of trouble, the girl wove a tale and landed them in very serious trouble.
"There's no concrete evidence that this was a malicious prosecution," Wilson said. "I just think that once she got this story going she couldn't stop it."
What finally stopped the story was a high-tech crime-solving procedure that only a few years ago would have been unavailable. In an unusual move, the defendants asked for DNA testing, a request usually made by prosecutors in an effort to confirm guilt.
Because both Cobbs and Dungee could not afford the tests, Judge Clifford Weckstein ordered the state to pay the $1,750 for the procedure.
A North Carolina laboratory that analyzed samples of semen found in the girl's vagina and compared it to blood samples from the accused determined with absolute certainty that the semen was not Cobbs'.
It all but excluded Dungee, except for the remote possibility that his semen could have mixed with that of another man who might earlier have had sex with the girl.
Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Alice Ekirch cited the DNA tests as one reason why she asked that the charges be dropped. But she took strong exception with the defense's view that the tests proved the victim was lying.
"I believe that is just ludicrous," Ekirch said, asking why anyone would concoct a story of rape and tell it to police officers she didn't know, and subject herself to the embarrassment of a hospital examination and ultimately to the scrutiny of a jury of 12 strangers?
"Would any reasonable person subject themselves to all of that?" Ekirch said.
The prosecutor said Cobbs and Dungee could have raped the 13-year-old, just as she she alleged, without leaving any traces of semen. "Our position would be that the tests results do not, and cannot, say that it never happened," she said.
Still, other inconsistencies in the girl's story led prosecutors to conclude that proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt would have been extremely difficult.
"It was not just a few inconsistencies," said Byrd, who was appointed to represent Dungee. "There was a lot that just didn't seem right about it."
But if the DNA tests had not been available, the trial would have pitted the word of accuser against the accused. After hearing the girl testify in Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court last year, a judge ruled that there was probable cause to support the charges and sent the case to Circuit Court.
Cobbs "has been extremely upset through the whole process," Wilson said. "He readily admits that he's been in trouble before, but he never wanted to spend a day in jail for something that he hasn't done."
Cobbs could not be reached for comment Friday. Dungee is serving a prison term for a shooting that possibly was related to the rape charge against him.
Last year, Dungee was convicted of unlawful wounding in the shooting of a teen-ager who was dating the older sister of the 13-year-old. Cobbs also had been involved with the older sister - an involvement that led to a fight, the details of which are sketchy.
Although there is no way to know if the girl was seeking vengeance by filing the charges, Cobbs and Dungee would seem to be likely targets if she was, Wilson said. Their names probably came to mind as police pressed the girl for more details about what had happened. "It was a convenient get-back," he said.
At first, the girl told her father and police that she was abducted and beaten by four unknown white men.
She later changed the story to say it was Jamaicans, and then changed it again to accuse Cobbs and Dungee. She said they pulled over as she was walking to her Northwest Roanoke home and forced her into the car. They drove her around for several hours, apparently in an effort to confuse her, the girl testified at a preliminary hearing.
They ended up in some woods at a park near Patrick Henry High School, where the men took turns raping her, she testified.
The girl said she was then allowed to leave the car and walked nearly five miles to her home. It was close to midnight when she arrived, just as her father was leaving the house to go look for her.
After being confronted about her tardiness and the late hour, the girl told her father she had been raped. Police were notified, and an examination at a Roanoke hospital showed the girl had recently had sex.
Wilson and Byrd alleged in court papers that the girl had engaged in consensual sex with other men on the same day of the alleged rape. The defense was prepared to call witnesses to that incident in an attempt to bring up evidence of the girl's prior sexual history - testimony that usually is barred in Virginia by the rape shield law.
That issue became moot when the DNA results returned from the lab.
At Thursday's hearing, Ekirch asked that the charges be dropped "in light of all the evidence."
In granting the motion, Weckstein reminded Cobbs and Dungee of how their attorneys had "kept pushing" to have the DNA testing performed.
"You both owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to the lawyers who were appointed to represent you in these cases," Weckstein said.