The case against alleged rapist Kelroy Williamson is open and shut, in the eyes of prosecutors.
His DNA is an exact match to that taken from the 19-year-old victim five years ago.
Despite the forensic evidence, defense attorneys said during opening arguments at Anne Arundel Circuit Court Monday that police arrested the wrong man.
“DNA is a science, not an art. And as a science it must follow rules,” said Williamson?s attorney William Davis.
“If you follow the rules of science, you get valid results. But [forensic chemist Annette Box] violated the rules of science … the DNA is not reliable and it?s invalid.”
Box was analyzing DNA from open, cold cases last year when she mistakenly checked evidence from a case closed 12 years ago and got a match for Williamson, 39, of Baltimore, in the 2002 rape of a Russian exchange student.
Police arrested Williamson in December 2006 and confirmed the match using DNA from the leftovers of a McDonald?s meal he was eating. But when the case went to trial in July, prosecutors only gave the defense attorneys part of the DNA lab work.
As a result, the case was postponed and the defense attorneys discredited the DNA evidence Monday, implying that Box was purposely trying to omit data.
Assistant State?s Attorney Kathleen Rogers told the jury in her opening statement that Williamson “might as well have left his name … because he left his unique DNA ? his and his alone.”
But Davis told the jury that police did not exhaust all leads and the victim?s initial description of the attacker didn?t resemble Williamson.
“The project is unfinished and there are questions unanswered. Things were left undone,” Davis said.
“Mr. Williamson is not the person responsible for this crime.”
According to court documents, Williamson allegedly attacked the student about 5 a.m. Sept. 21, 2002, as she walked from her home in Pioneer City to her job at a fast-food restaurant on Reece Road. Police said Williamson pulled her into a wooded area, bound her arms and raped her.
The trial is expected to continue today.
