***MEDIA ADVISORY***

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: OCTOBER 17, 2015

CONVICTED RAPIST FACING 140 YEARS

Media Contact: Curtis T. Hill, Jr. (574) 296-1888

Tuesday afternoon, an Elkhart County jury found Jerry Wayne Young, of Michigan City, guilty of the crimes of Rape and Criminal Deviate Conduct, both class A felonies, and Intimidation, a class D felony. After the verdict, Young admitted additionally to being a Repeat Sexual Offender and a Habitual Criminal Offender.

Elkhart Police originally were called in the early morning hours of October 16, 2012, to a report of rape at an apartment on West Marion Street. The responding officers immediately transported the victim to Elkhart General Hospital, where a sexual assault examination and collection kit was performed. After Young later was identified as a suspect, the Elkhart Police obtained a search warrant for his DNA. The sex assault kit and Young’s DNA were sent for analysis to the Indiana State Police, which resulted in a positive match of Young’s DNA to that found in the sex assault kit.

The Elkhart County Prosecutor’s Office ultimately charged Young with one count each of Rape, Criminal Deviate Conduct, and Intimidation. The Prosecutor’s Office also added “enhancements” for being a Repeat Sexual Offender, based on Young’s 2003 felony conviction for Sexual Misconduct with a Minor, as well as for being a Habitual Criminal Offender, based on Young’s additional prior felony convictions for Sexual Battery and Battery on a Police Officer. Young was picked up on the resulting warrant in July.

During the jury trial, which began on Tuesday, October 6, and concluded mid-day this past Tuesday, the jury heard directly from the victim of how Young pushed his way into her apartment at 3 a.m. after she answered a knock at her door. The victim recounted how Young smelled of alcohol and bluntly insisted on having sex with her. After she told him no and tried to resist, Young took her phone away, pushed her down onto the couch, and struggled to get her pants off. In fear for her life and alone in the dark in her apartment, the victim finally relented, although still telling Young no and attempting to call for help. Despite her pleas, Young forcibly had sex with her.

The victim then relived that Young told her he wasn’t satisfied and demanded that she perform oral sex on him, then threatened her and grabbed and pushed her head down upon him when she cried and resisted. Once the ordeal was over, the victim relayed how she fled out her own front door in a moment of confusion and that Young threatened to “shoot” her if she did not return.

Despite the immediate call to police and the sexual assault examination and kit, the victim had only met Young once before and could not correctly identify him to the Elkhart Police. However, over two months later, the victim’s boyfriend spotted Young at the trolley stop in Elkhart and called police, who came and identified Young, which led to the search warrant and collection of Young’s DNA.

The jury also heard testimony from the many Elkhart Police Officers who investigated the crimes, including an evidence technician who collected a partially smoked cigarette that the victim reported that Young left in her kitchen. One of the registered nurses from Elkhart General who performed the sex assault exam explained to the jury the process of obtaining the necessary samples and specimens from the victim. A forensic scientist from the Indiana State Police then testified as to the positive match of Young’s DNA to both the cigarette and the sex assault kit and specifically as to the fact that Young’s semen and DNA were found on and in the victim “to the highest degree of scientific certainty.”

The final piece of evidence presented to the jury by Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Patrick Dowd and Elkhart Police Detective Brian Schroth was the victim’s tearful, terrified 911 call, recounting briefly but in great detail her horrifying ordeal just minutes before the call. The jury deliberated for nearly three hours before returning a verdict of guilty on the criminal counts.

Following the verdict, Young admitted to the additional enhancements for being a Repeat Sexual Offender and a Habitual Criminal Offender. Not only was Young convicted in 2003 for the felony of Sexual Misconduct with a Minor, but he also pleaded guilty to the felony of Sexual Battery in 2000 after an acquittal by a jury on a separate and unrelated rape charge. After the 2003 conviction, Young’s criminal record indicates that he committed a variety of misdemeanor and felony offenses in neighboring counties before returning to Elkhart in 2012 to commit these crimes. “Young is the reason people lock their doors,” said Elkhart County Prosecuting Attorney, Curtis T. Hill, Jr. “He’s a proven predator and caging him is the only way to keep him from attacking again,” said Hill.

Young’s sentencing is scheduled for November 12. At sentencing, he faces up to a maximum of 140 years in the Indiana Department of Corrections.

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“Under Indiana law, all persons arrested for a criminal offense are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.”