Rape case sent to trial

Without hesitation, a Douglas County Court judge found sufficient evidence Wednesday to order a 31-year-old man to stand trial in last year's rape and brutal attack of a 67-year-old woman.

Judge Marcena Hendrix sent the first-degree sexual assault case against Anthony Layton to District Court for trial.

In August, authorities arrested Layton in Kansas City, Mo., on a warrant. He stands accused of the March 10 sexual assault in a midtown Omaha apartment building. Authorities also suspect he might have been involved in several other sexual assaults in the midtown area.

At this point, though, Layton is charged with the lone attack.

"This case is an ongoing investigation, and we'll leave it at that," Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine told reporters after the hearing. "Mr. Layton is in custody, so that should make people feel easier in that regard."

Omaha police detective Christy Bart gave this account of the attack during Wednesday's preliminary hearing:

Shortly before 7 a.m., the woman woke up in her bedroom. She found an unknown man standing over her bed. The stranger demanded money and punched her in the face repeatedly. Eventually, the man overpowered her. He sexually assaulted her. Afterward, he again demanded money. The woman gave him about $15. He walked out of her apartment building through her front door.

The woman told detectives that she did not get a good look at her attacker. He wore a dark coat and dark clothes. "She could not see his face," Bart testified. "She does not know Anthony Layton."

However, her attacker left behind a white gardening glove on her bed. Omaha police recovered the item and tested the glove for DNA. In the meantime, Omaha police intensified their overnight patrols in response to a series of unsolved sexual assaults and other related crimes in midtown and other parts of the city.

About five days after the March attack, Omaha police noticed Layton lurking around the midtown area about 2 a.m. Officers questioned him briefly. Layton voluntarily gave them a DNA sample. Layton's profile matched the DNA found inside the gardening glove, Bart testified.

Then, last August, authorities recovered Layton's dark-hooded coat at the time of his arrest at his grandmother's residence in Kansas City. Layton's coat sleeve contained a small amount of dried blood. The blood on the coat matched the DNA profile of the 67-year-old rape victim, Bart testified.

During questioning, Bart acknowledged that police did not recover Layton's fingerprints at the woman's apartment building. One neighbor saw a man dressed in black clothing leaving the apartment building, but that resident could not positively identify Layton. The apartment complex did not have any video surveillance cameras.

Layton's attorney, Gary Olson, argued that prosecutors did not link Layton to the woman's sexual assault.

"A glove has skin cells belonging (my client)," Olson said. "We have no evidence, no idea how long the DNA has been in that glove. Granted, it's suspicious, but it does not rise to the level of probable cause that my client committed first-degree sexual assault."

The judge, though, disagreed.

« Metro/Region

Share