THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, January 28, 1995 TAG: 9501280207
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LYNN WALTZ, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 76 lines
Prosecutors won a big victory in the North End serial rape case Friday when a judge ruled they could tell the jury that the fourth victim had met defendant Kerri Charity before she was sexually assaulted in January 1993.
Charity is charged with four Oceanfront attacks that year.
The victim, 24, was in the middle of testimony Friday when the jury was removed for arguments. After the judge's ruling, the victim told the jury she could not identify her attacker from the videotaped lineup of rape suspects, but had asked detectives where they got the men for the lineup.
``I told them I recognized one of the men in the videotape,'' she testified. The woman, who was raped in her apartment after she had gone jogging outside, testified that she had been exercising in the apartment complex workout room when she met Charity.
Charity was trying to open a combination lock on the workout room's door, she said. Since residents often fumbled with the difficult lock, she got off the treadmill and admitted him. In a short conversation, he asked her how long she had been working out, and she said she normally jogged outside, not on the treadmill.
She also testified that she saw him in the gym a second time, but that time he successfully used the combination lock and opened the door. This time, she said, they had a short conversation about music.
Since the victim could not identify her attacker in the lineup, the admission of the circumstantial evidence was considered critical. The only other evidence in this rape is DNA from semen linked to Charity.
While juries have convicted on the basis of DNA alone in the past, it is always uncertain how much importance a jury will place on the scientific evidence with no other supporting evidence.
Prosecutors argued that Charity's presence in the private gym indicated he was inspecting the crime scene and the victim ahead of time.
But defense attorney David Baugh argued that nothing happened that would indicate stalking or any intent to hurt the victim. Baugh said the evidence would prejudice the jurors, causing them to speculate about Charity's intent.
``Of all the objections, this was the most important issue we've faced so far,'' Judge Frederick B. Lowe said in his ruling. ``Is this circumstantial evidence? This encounter was in a private location for residents only. He did not live there. It was not in a public place like a gas station or a grocery. It is relevant. It should be allowed to go to the jury.''
Friday marked the fifth day of testimony. DNA testimony about evidence retrieved from the fourth victim will be offered Monday.
The victim, who had just graduated from college the month before she was raped, spoke in a high, soft voice as she told the jury what happened while her two roommates were away on Christmas break on Jan. 10, 1993.
She had just returned from a 45-minute jog in Seashore State Park, she said. She still was wearing running pants when she began a step aerobic video.
``I was grabbed from behind,'' she testified. ``I was being punched on my right side. The wind was knocked out of me. I was having trouble breathing.''
The intruder took the victim to her bedroom. ``He was very calm,'' she said. ``He knew exactly what he was doing.''
The attacker cut or ripped off her tights, leaving raveled edges around her cross-trainer shoes, and raped and sodomized the woman.
``I was just crying,'' she said. ``He said that I was used to this and that I liked this.''
As in other attacks, the rapist removed semen from the victim in an attempt to remove DNA that could be used as evidence, prosecutors said. Forensic scientists, however, later found seminal fluid on the edges of the running tights. ILLUSTRATION: ALBA BRAGOLI
The fourth victim of the North End testified Friday while her
parents watched. Prosecutor Pamela Albert, center, questions the
victim. The defendant, Kerri Charity, right, watches.
KEYWORDS: TRIAL RAPE SERIAL RAPE by CNB