Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- A man once accused of killing three Illinois prostitutes has been convicted of beating, raping and robbing a University of Utah student 13 years ago.
A jury deliberated roughly 90 minutes Wednesday before finding Donald Younge, 43, guilty of two counts of first-degree felony aggravated sexual assault and one count of second-degree felony robbery in the November 1996 attack. He faces up to life in prison when sentenced Jan. 15.
Younge still awaits trial in the 1999 stabbing death of University of Utah drama student Amy Quinton, 22. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Younge, charged with aggravated murder and nine other felonies in the events surrounding Quinton's death. Younge has pleaded not guilty.
Younge's rape conviction Wednesday was based entirely on a DNA profile developed from seminal fluid collected at the time of the attack. The victim, then 23, could not identify her attacker.
The woman testified she was walking home from a night class when she was tackled by a man who beat her and demanded money. She handed him $16, blacked out and awakened naked in an alley, where the man forced her to perform oral sex and then raped her.
After the attack, the woman reclothed herself, ran home and called her sister, who took her to the hospital where the DNA sample was collected.
Younge's attorney, Michael Misner, argued that the DNA test was unreliable, insisting the sample degraded because of improper storage, could have been contaminated during testing and that the real attacker was someone else who shares Younge's DNA profile.
Prosecutor Cristina Ortega countered that DNA commonly is used to confirm paternity, identify fallen soldiers and even exonerate the wrongly convicted. She noted that only a twin brother could share Younge's profile, and Younge has no brother.
In Illinois' St. Clair County, prosecutors in February dropped murder charges against Younge in the slayings of three East St. Louis prostitutes after the credibility of a key prosecution witness was questioned.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
