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Posted on Fri, May 3, 2013 : 5:58 a.m.

Jury finds man guilty of brutally raping prostitute

By John Counts

Anthony_Chandler.jpg

Anthony Chandler

Courtesy of WCSO

A 40-year-old Ypsilanti Township man was found guilty Thursday of beating, slashing and raping a prostitute four years ago.

The decision came four days after the trial in the Washtenaw County Trial Court began for Anthony Derrick Chandler. A jury convicted him of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, assault with intent to do great bodily harm and assault with a dangerous weapon. The conviction could mean a life prison term for Chandler.

The jury started deliberating around 2:30 p.m. Wednesday and came forward with a verdict around 2 p.m. Thursday. They did not convict Chandler as charged, instead opting for the lesser count of assault with intent to do great bodily harm rather than assault with intent to murder.

Assistant Washtenaw County Prosecutor Robyn Liddell built a case based on both victim identification and DNA. The 44-year-old woman identified Chandler from a photographic lineup, when a victim is shown a half-dozen pictures of different suspects. Police became aware of Chandler's possible involvement after DNA evidence from both a glove found at the crime scene and a semen stain on the woman's coat linked him to the assault.

"She began trembling and crying and pointed the suspect out," Liddell said during closing remarks about when the victim saw the photo lineup.

Chandler's attorney, David I. Goldstein, tried to cast doubt on the victim's credibility and testimony. The woman was a working prostitute and crack cocaine addict at the time of the violent rape. She admitted to buying crack before the March 29, 2009 attack.

"There are lots of discrepancies in what she said," Goldstein told the jury during his closing remarks, adding that they should think twice about the woman's claims she didn't immediately smoke the crack.

He also asked the jury to consider how hard drugs affect a person's memory.

The jury heard from several DNA experts called by the prosecution who in varying capacities backed up Liddell's claims that Chandler's genetic material was found inside a glove found in the snow at the scene and on the woman's semen-stained coat.

The experts did say there was evidence of other semen in the victim's body, a point Goldstein tried to use to cast more doubt on his client's role in the attack. Chandler was considered "a major contributor" in the DNA samples, the experts testified, which meant his genetic material was found in higher concentrations in some of the areas tested.

Police used the DNA to connect Chandler with the rape three years after it occurred. As a convicted felon in a different case, Chandler had been required to provide a sample.

After he became a suspect, police re-interviewed the 44-year-old woman and showed her a photograph of six individuals, one of whom was Chandler, who was subsequently arrested and arraigned on charges.

Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office Detective Thomas Sinks testified Thursday about interviewing Chandler the day after his arrest. Sinks said when he showed Chandler a picture of the victim, Chandler took a pencil and wrote, "never seen her before in my life" on the top of the photograph.

Sinks testified he asked Chandler about the DNA match.

"He had no idea, no answer, no explanation," Sinks said.

The rape occurred where South Harris Street dead-ends the railroad tracks in Ypsilanti Township. The woman said she was grabbed while she stood near a baseball field, then dragged by knifepoint into a nearby wooded area where Chandler raped her on a mattress. The woman's hand was slashed as she tried defending herself.

The woman said she did not know Chandler.

Police called to the area interrupted the assault. The suspect fled after seeing patrol car lights and deputies found the bloody woman emerging from the woods.

A warrant for Chandler's arrest was issued on July 10, 2012. Chandler was picked up on a minor traffic stop in Ypsilanti Township Aug. 2, 2012.

Chandler's parents and other family members were in the courtroom Thursday. Some immediately stood up and walked out before the verdict could be read while others waited and said quick good-byes to Chandler, who remained stone-faced and calm throughout the proceedings, on their way out.

He remains in the Washtenaw County Jail while awaiting sentencing June 3.

John Counts covers cops and courts for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at johncounts@annarbor.com or you can follow him on Twitter.

Comments

Julie Baker

Fri, May 3, 2013 : 4:56 p.m.

Comments suggesting about sentencing have been removed, as have comments about moderation. Please email moderator@annarbor.com if you have questions.

49@CT

Tue, May 7, 2013 : 5:17 p.m.

Julie, your response is very confusing. Seriously, you're on staff @ AnnArbor.com?

shadow wilson

Fri, May 3, 2013 : 4:38 p.m.

why was my comment removed? I want an answer this is ridiculous

Mike

Fri, May 3, 2013 : 3:38 p.m.

Remember people, a defence attorney's job is to do his best for his client. Sometimes his best does not clear the defendant. I am sure that David Goldstein does not believe that this woman deserved any abuse, no matter how she chose to live her life or what type of drugs she may have been using. It seems that he may have done his job well enough to have the jury convict on a lesser charge. Hmmm a few years versus life. If he is as gulty as he could have been shame on anybody getting him a reduces sentence.

Ricebrnr

Fri, May 3, 2013 : 1:18 p.m.

Kudos to the YPD & Prosecutors for their stalwart actions. Its all too easy to overlook the least of us in order to get to more "important" things.

Ricebrnr

Fri, May 3, 2013 : 5:30 p.m.

Thanks John. Apologies and Kudos to my friends over at WCSD.

John Counts

Fri, May 3, 2013 : 3:43 p.m.

FYI, Ricebrnr, it was a Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office case, not Ypsilanti Police Department.

UM Rocks

Fri, May 3, 2013 : 12:48 p.m.

"He also asked the jury to consider how hard drugs effect a person's memory." Should be affect, not effect.

Julie Baker

Fri, May 3, 2013 : 2:56 p.m.

That's fixed.

Jack Gladney

Fri, May 3, 2013 : 12:18 p.m.

Sounds like Goldstein's argument was that she had it coming to her ecause she was supposedly a drug-addicted transactional sex worker. Sorry, David. Rape is rape. Hopefully the judge finds him a cell, and the warden loses the key.

johnnya2

Fri, May 3, 2013 : 3:34 p.m.

The defense attorney's JOB is to raise doubt in any way possible. If defense attorney's only took the cases of people they liked, many more people could be imprisoned because they are not likable enough. Would you have preferred he sat there and said, "yup, my guy did it, he raped her multiple times and beat the hell out of her". Oh , if he did that, the rapist would get a new trial

Craig Lounsbury

Fri, May 3, 2013 : 3:08 p.m.

In defense of the defense attorney he is required to present some sort of defense for his client. Casting doubt on the credibility of the accuser was about all he had to go on I imagine.

mady

Fri, May 3, 2013 : 1:22 p.m.

Jack, totally agree. No one, regardless of what they do for a living should have to go through this.