Baltimore City prosecutors today dropped all charges against a man accused of committing an armed home invasion rape in the upscale Baltimore neighborhood of Roland Park after DNA evidence proved the suspect was not involved.
DNA lab results received this week excluded Chaz Ricks, 20, of Gwynn Oak, as a possible source of or contributor to the DNA evidence collected from the scene of the Aug. 23 crime.
“Prosecutors have determined that, in the interest of justice, these charges be dismissed in light of this recently developed evidence,” Baltimore City State?s Attorney Patricia Jessamy?s office said in a statement.
About 8 p.m. Aug. 23, a 59-year-old grandmother was in her kitchen on the 700 block of Colorado Avenue when two unknown men entered her home, and one raped her, during a robbery, police said. Police closed in on Ricks as a suspect after the victim provided a description of her attackers. A sketch artist depicted a rendering of a suspect, which a detective identified as Ricks, according to city police spokesman Sterling Clifford.
Today, Clifford described the dropped charges as “how the system works.”
“All the evidence pointed to him as being the most likely suspect,” Clifford said. “We worked to bring him in. After we got the DNA results, we worked with prosecutors to get him cut loose. The investigation will continue.”
In July, Baltimore County prosecutors dropped very similar robbery and sex offense charges against Ricks after they said the case lacked evidence.
In 2006, city prosecutors dropped three different cases, including charges for shooting and drugs, against Ricks.
