20 years after rape, DNA sends man to prison
A man who raped a woman nearly 20 years ago in a Near East Side park is finally going to prison.
Joseph E. Carter, 46, was sentenced on Tuesday to eight years in prison after he was linked to the crime through DNA evidence.
Carter pleaded guilty last month to one count of rape for sexually assaulting a woman on Aug. 30, 1997, when she was 18 years old.
The sentence, imposed by Franklin County Common Pleas Judge David C. Young, was recommended by prosecuting and defense attorneys as part of a plea agreement. After his release, he must register as a sexually oriented offender every year for 10 years under the registration law that was in effect at the time of the crime.
A rape kit from the case sat on a shelf in the Columbus police lab until it was tested in 2016 as part of the sexual-assault unit’s cold-case initiative. The DNA sample was sent to the state’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation, which used a computer database to match it to Carter’s DNA profile.
He was arrested in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and returned to Columbus in March 2016.
The victim was walking home from a friend’s house through Beatty Park around 4 a.m. when she was attacked. Assistant Prosecutor Kacey Chappelear said the crime was particularly violent, with Carter stomping on the woman’s head after the rape.
The victim did not attend the hearing.
At the time of the attack, Carter was on parole after serving time for an involuntary manslaughter conviction in Cuyahoga County. It was one of four prison stints for Carter, who also has a history of violating parole, Chappelear said.
She encouraged the judge to impose the maximum sentence of 10 years, saying that Carter showed no remorse and told a pre-sentencing interviewer, “I don’t consider this a rape situation.”
Carter declined to make a statement during the hearing.