Man Convicted of Rape in First ‘Cold Hit’ Case
A Lancaster man was convicted Tuesday of raping a teenager in Inglewood seven years ago in the first “cold hit” case filed in the county with new state grant money.
A jury found Michael Dwight Hill guilty of two counts of rape, one count of penetration by a foreign object and one count of assault. The 1995 crime had sat dormant until last year, when Inglewood police sent DNA evidence to be tested in the state’s $50-million program designed to solve old sexual assault cases.
The lab found a match, and Hill, 36, was arrested in August.
Prosecutors say Hill, a registered sex offender, lured the 14-year-old girl to a garage, where he sexually assaulted her and hit her when she tried to flee. He could get multiple life terms when sentenced Feb. 19.
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