Judge weighing rape case testimony

A woman who was a Kansas University student in 1993 testified in Douglas County District Court on Friday about how she was raped on a night nearly 15 years ago near Memorial Stadium.

Her attacker was the same man who attacked two other women in the early 1990s, Douglas County prosecutors allege. They said DNA evidence supports their arguments in all of the cases. Judge Michael Malone is expected to rule next week whether the woman’s testimony about the May 1993 attack can be used during the trials.

Last year a 38-year-old California man was extradited to Douglas County to face charges after advances in DNA testing led police to him. He was initially charged in the attacks on all three women but the statute of limitations expired in the 1993 attack. Changes in state law concerning DNA evidence allowed the man to face charges in the attacks on the other two women. They were raped in 1994 and 1995.

Prosecutors, however, hope to use the woman’s testimony about the 1993 incident to show similarities with the later attacks.

The suspect is scheduled to be tried the week of May 5. He remains in the Douglas County Jail on a $250,000 bond.