Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, July 9, 1993 TAG: 9307090079
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LON WAGNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ROCKY MOUNT LENGTH: Short
Cliff Herbert Simmons, 44, was found guilty of sexually assaulting the woman. Simmons faces five years to life in prison for the crime, and the sentence could be harsh due to a previous rape conviction in 1970.
The woman told Franklin County Circuit Judge B.A. Davis III that Simmons knocked on her door Nov. 14. Simmons' girlfriend sometimes serves as the woman's caretaker, so the woman let him in.
Once inside, Simmons set up a video cassette recorder he had brought to the house, played a pornographic movie and raped the woman, the woman testified.
Simmons admitted to renting a pornographic movie that Saturday afternoon, but he denied raping the woman.
"I just stopped by to see how she was doing, because I hadn't heard from her in a week or two," Simmons said. "She's just like an aunt to me, or a mother or something. She's like a mother to me."
Simmons' trial was the first time DNA analysis had been used in a Franklin County courtroom. George Li, a supervisor with the Virginia Division of Forensic Science, said his analysis of blood and semen found on the woman's pajamas was consistent with Simmons' DNA patterns.
Li did not say the DNA test absolutely identified Simmons. But Li said the chance of a match was one in 3 million, and Simmons was a match.
by CNB