THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, July 11, 1996 TAG: 9607110373
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: STAFF REPORT
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 33 lines
Prosecutors have decided to retry Kerri Charity on charges that he raped a female jogger at Seashore State Park almost three years ago. The retrial is scheduled for Oct. 28.
At Charity's first trial, a 12-member jury could not reach a unanimous decision, forcing Circuit Judge Frederick B. Lowe to declare a mistrial June 28.
The jury split 8-4, with the majority voting that Charity was guilty of raping the woman Oct. 11, 1993.
Prosecutors argued that Charity was guilty because the victim picked him out of a videotaped lineup five months after the crime, and because Charity's DNA matched that taken from bloodstains on the victim's jogging shirt.
But defense attorney Sa'ad El-Amin argued that DNA analysis cannot be trusted. Charity's father and girlfriend also testified that Charity was with them when the rape occurred.
Charity, 25, became known as the North End Rapist because of a series of rapes he is believed to have committed in an Oceanfront residential area. He has been convicted of raping four women and sentenced to seven life terms plus 80 years in prison.
He faces another trial Aug. 5 in connection with a 1994 rape. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Five months after she was raped, the victim picked Kerri Charity out
of a videotaped lineup.
KEYWORDS: RAPE SEX CRIME TRIAL by CNB