ALFRED – Dane Bosley, 25, grabbed a 14-year-old on her way to school in 2008 and raped her, then avoided detection for more than two years until his DNA appeared in another government database, a prosecutor in Bosley’s rape trial told jurors Tuesday during opening statements in York County Superior Court.
Once Bosley’s DNA profile was available to authorities, it was matched with DNA collected from the sex assault victim, said Assistant District Attorney Thaddeus West, in his opening statement.
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“This is not going to be easy to hear,” West warned jurors. “What we’re talking about is the gross sexual assault of a child on her way to school.”
West said the victim was taking a shortcut to school, listening to music on her headphones, when she was grabbed, threatened with a knife, dragged into the bushes and raped.
Bosley’s attorney, Amy Fair-field, said Bosley admits having sex with the girl but insists she consented to it. Fairfield told jurors that the victim has changed details of her story. Those inconsistencies create a reasonable doubt about Bosley’s guilt, she said.
The jury, four men and eight women, on Tuesday morning heard from the nurse who collected evidence from the victim after the alleged attack as well from as two forensic scientists from the Maine State Police crime laboratory and two Sanford detectives.
The prosecution’s first witness, Dawn Hersom, an emergency room nurse, described her examination of the victim, which included asking her what happened.
The girl said she had been walking with headphones on when she thought she heard her name, Hersom said. The girl said that as she turned, a man grabbed her and threw her to the ground. He forced her to perform oral sex then had intercourse with her, then rolled her over onto her chest and had intercourse with her again, the nurse said.
The exam found bruising and bleeding of her genitals, and debris, such as dirt and leaves, was found on her back and genital area, the nurse said.
The victim, now 19, is expected to testify at the trial.
According to police reports, the girl was walking to school on a wooded path behind the Sanford Armory at 7 a.m. Oct. 8, 2008, when she was accosted at knifepoint and taken to a secluded area, where she was sexually assaulted.
The girl was released and reported the assault to school officials, who notified police. Officers used police dogs to search the area but couldn’t find the suspect. Forensic analysts with the Maine State Police crime lab developed DNA profiles from biological evidence collected at the scene and entered them into a state database.
Bosley was arrested March 24, 2010, for robbing Maine Bank and Trust in Sanford on Feb. 25, 2010. Bosley, then 22, pleaded guilty to federal charges related to the robbery and was sentenced to 32 months in prison.
As a result of that conviction, authorities collected a tissue sample and developed a DNA profile from it that matched the evidence collected after the rape, Sanford police said in 2011.
Justice Paul Fritzsche is presiding over the trial.
David Hench can be contacted at 791-6327 or at: dhench@mainetoday.com
Twitter: @Mainehenchman
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