Jury Begins Deliberations in the Trial of Accused Serial Rapist : Courts: Witness identification and a fingerprint link Monette Johnson to the assaults, prosecutors say.

A jury began deliberating the fate of Monette Johnson on Thursday, an accused serial rapist who prosecutors said should be convicted on all charges because of overwhelming evidence presented against him.

The panel of seven men and five women is weighing 26 felony counts against Johnson, a 35-year-old Lake View Terrace man accused of assaulting six women and one man during a series of late-night attacks in late 1991 and early 1992.

Johnson is linked to the crimes, according to prosecutors, by a mass of evidence that includes witness identification, a fingerprint at one scene and a remarkably similar method of operation.

Always gaining entrance without force, Johnson surprised the victims as they lay in bed, according to Deputy Dist. Atty. Phillip H. Rabichow. “He looked for places where people forgot to lock the door or sliding glass window,” he said.

Like the stack of compact discs taken from his final victim, police recovered property stolen from each victim in Johnson’s apartment when he was arrested in January, 1992, Rabichow told the jury.

The only fingerprint investigators located was on a cassette case kept in the same place as the CDs, according to the prosecutor, and this discovery was made simply “because he forgot about it.”

In four of the earlier attacks, the assailant used a towel, either to wipe off fingerprints or to remove perspiration that helps leave the prints, Rabichow said.

But most importantly, according to Rabichow, is genetic evidence that conclusively identifies Johnson as the man who raped and sodomized the victims.

Scientists testifying on behalf of the prosecution said DNA found in semen collected after the rapes was compared with DNA in Johnson’s blood, and the match is identical.

“The evidence is just overwhelming,” Rabichow said. “The DNA evidence alone is overwhelming.”

During his closing argument, defense attorney M. David Houchin attacked the DNA evidence, saying it was flawed because the method of testing the DNA was based on flawed assumptions and the statistical figures “are predictions based on theories.”

Noting a dispute among some scientists over the validity of DNA evidence, Houchin said that other biological tests--blood enzyme tests, for example--are either inconclusive or exonerate Johnson as the culprit.

Interest in the Johnson case has grown over the past several months because several of the victims were alerted that they had been exposed to the HIV virus. But neither the county Department of Health Services nor the four victims with the knowledge of who exposed them can legally say if Johnson is responsible. The other alleged victims don’t know if Johnson carries the virus responsible for AIDS because he is protected by confidentiality laws.

The issues of HIV and AIDS were never presented to the jury.

The jury will resume deliberations Monday. Courts are closed today in honor of Lincoln’s birthday.