THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, January 30, 1995 TAG: 9501300063
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LYNN WALTZ, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 100 lines
The attacker dubbed the ``North End serial rapist'' was clever, prosecutors told a jury last week. So clever that he successfully removed all his fingerprints. So clever that his victims never saw his face.
So clever that he tried to remove his semen from the crime scene so he would not leave DNA evidence.
Kerri Charity is accused of being that clever attacker. Charity, a former criminal justice major at Norfolk State University, is on trial for four allegedly related sexual assaults that terrorized the Oceanfront in 1993. He also is charged with a fifth.
Prosecutors say the attacker was so clever that he was able to elude capture for more than a year. Then, they say, he became careless.
In a Dec. 21, 1993, attack, which prosecutors say was the last in the series, the attacker made a mistake that has made that case the centerpiece of the trial, which continues today.
The attacker allowed himself to be seen near the apartment both before and after the attack. Once police traced the license plate of the man who had been spotted, they had a name and a suspect.
Once they had a suspect, they could get a blood sample, which would contain DNA.
That was a critical breakthrough, for the rapist had made another mistake in two other rapes. He had not always successfully removed the sperm from his victims. A few drops had been recovered from the ripped running tights of his first victim. DNA extracted from the running tights matched DNA evidence from sperm collected in another attack.
But there was one other thing working against the rapist. He had some peculiar habits. He always attacked his victims from behind. He often taunted them by asking them in crude anatomical ways how they wanted to be raped. He often degraded his victims.
Those similarities, among others, allowed prosecutors to take advantage of a law permitting evidence from related crimes to be presented to a jury in a single trial.
It is the first time Virginia Beach prosecutors have used the law, which would allow evidence from all four cases to be used in the trials of any of the other cases. In this case, prosecutors and defense attorneys agreed to try all the cases at once.
The jury could still find Charity guilty of individual rapes if they don't find him guilty of all four.
To get convictions in all four rapes, prosecutors must first convince the jury that the DNA match to Charity is solid, then build on that foundation by linking the two rapes where there was no DNA evidence by showing the similarities.
Next, prosecutors will use circumstantial evidence placing Charity near the scene of two attacks to erase any doubts the jury may have.
``This trial is not just about DNA, though the evidence is vital and compelling,'' prosecutor Pamela Albert told the jury during opening arguments. ``It is not just about identification, though that is important. It is also about modus operandi, the way the criminal committed the crime.''
Jurors listened for hours Thursday to forensic scientists who told them how DNA profiles, sometimes called fingerprints, are deeloped.
During jury selection, prosecutors were clearly looking for a jury able to comprehend the complexity of the scientific evidence. They quizzed potential jurors about science and math courses and skills they had attained.
But other evidence is complicated as well. Jurors must sort out and weigh witness identifications of Charity seen near the scene of the crime and victim descriptions of the tall, slender, self-assured man whose face they never saw.
Finally, the jury must keep straight the checklist of similarities between the rapes, which sometimes varied in detail.
The victim's face and the attacker's face were covered, but not always the same way.
Each victim was assaulted from behind in a bedroom, but sometimes the attack was sodomy and sometimes rape.
Each victim was threatened with a knife. Sometimes the attacker actually produced it.
Personal property was stolen. The objects varied.
Each victim was degraded, but sometimes there was a racial overtone.
In opening statements, defense attorney David Baugh portrayed the case as a house of cards with no foundation.
``The truth is but a perception,'' he told the jury. ``A child honestly believes there's a monster in the closet. You must show them there is not.
``Seldom do witnesses lie. People see different things. They believe what they say. The issue here is not whether they were all done by one person. The issue is did this man do it. Identification is everything.''
As for DNA, Baugh told the jury, ``You will hear the term probability over and over, but in the end the answer has to be, `I don't know.' No one can tell you it's the same. They'll tell you it's similar. You will find there is a reasonable doubt.''
The prosecution is expected to call its last witness today. The defense is expected to present its case Tuesday. Both sides expect the jury to retire to deliberate the evidence Wednesday. ILLUSTRATION: [Color photo]
Kerri Charity is on trial for four allegedly related sexual assaults
that terrorized the Oceanfront in 1993.
KEYWORDS: RAPE TRIAL SERIAL RAPIST DNA by CNB