Man accused of raping, slashing woman with knife in 2009 attack to stand trial
The man accused of raping a woman in the woods in Ypsilanti Township while armed with a knife and a handgun will stand trial in March.
Anthony Chandler
Courtesy of WCSO
Anthony Derrick Chandler, 40, was in court Monday for a pretrial hearing. He’s scheduled to stand trial at 8:30 a.m. March 25, records show.
Chandler is accused of attacking a woman in the 80 block of South Harris Road on March 29, 2009. Deputies said Chandler assaulted and raped a woman after approaching her on South Harris near the railroad tracks, grabbing her by the hair and taking her into nearby woods.
According to deputies, Chandler raped the woman and attempted to slash her throat with a knife. The woman blocked the blow and her hand was cut, damaging all the tendons, deputies said.
Chandler also allegedly choked the woman to the point she started to black out multiple times during the incident. He fled once he saw patrol lights.
Investigators identified Chandler as a suspect through a DNA sample. He’s a convicted felon who has served prison time on four different felony crimes.
Chandler is charged with first degree criminal sexual conduct, assault with intent to murder, assault with intent to commit great bodily harm and assault with a dangerous weapon. If convicted, he faces a maximum of life in prison.
Chandler is being held in the Washtenaw County Jail on a $150,000 cash bond.
Kyle Feldscher covers cops and courts for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at kylefeldscher@annarbor.com or you can follow him on Twitter.
Comments
Cindy Heflin
Tue, Jan 22, 2013 : 3:59 p.m.
Comments calling for specific punishment of the accused have been blocked.
Detached Observer
Sat, Jan 19, 2013 : 9:46 p.m.
The cops had his DNA on file the whole time but it took them years to make the match. That's business as usual due to low budgets. It's important to keep the budgets of government agencies as low as possible to protect our rights or something.
DBH
Sat, Jan 19, 2013 : 3:35 p.m.
If you click on the link in the first sentence of this article, the article from October 2012 (including information in some of the comments) explains to some extent why it took so long for the DNA evidence to be forthcoming.
chris
Sat, Jan 19, 2013 : 3:28 p.m.
The warrant was not issued until last summer. He was linked to the crime through DNA.
Homeland Conspiracy
Sat, Jan 19, 2013 : 3:15 p.m.
2009 & it's just now going to trial....WOW
Pamela Bethune
Sat, Jan 19, 2013 : 2:12 p.m.
Can anyone explain why it took this long to come to trial?!