DNA evidence disputed in rape of 85-year-old
By Ken Kobayashi
Advertiser Courts Writer
The lawyer for a Kaimuki man accused of raping an 85-year-old neighbor in her apartment says the prosecution doesn't have enough evidence to hold his client on $500,000 bail.
David M. Baldaino, 37, was indicted by the O'ahu grand jury yesterday on charges of first-degree burglary, kidnapping and first-degree sexual assault of a Wai'alae Avenue woman in the pre-dawn hours of March 12.
Baldaino
If Baldaino had not had a criminal record that includes sexual assault, police wouldn't have been targeting him, said defense attorney Victor Bakke.
First-degree sexual assault carries a mandatory maximum 20-year prison term.
Baldaino's lawyer questioned whether the DNA evidence prosecutors say links his client to the crime is strong enough to support the charge.
Bakke said his client is in "shock" at the O'ahu Community Correctional Center and denies committing the crimes. "He just feels he's being victimized," Bakke said.
The attack was followed three days later by the sexual assault of a 72-year-old Kaimuki woman in her apartment, raising concerns in the established Honolulu community among many longtime residents. The 72-year-old woman told police she was victimized by a knife-wielding stranger.
Police have said Baldaino is not a suspect in the second sexual-assault case.
In connection with yesterday's indictment, City Deputy Prosecutor Vickie Kapp alleges Baldaino broke into his neighbor's apartment, choked and threatened the woman and sexually assaulted her. She said the defendant denies committing the crimes, but the DNA matches in the case.
She also said Baldaino has separate burglary and sexual-assault convictions on Kaua'i.
In the Kaua'i sexual-assault case, Baldaino was charged with first-degree rape, but pleaded no contest to a reduced charge of third-degree sexual assault in 1989, according to court records.
Bakke said the prosecution's DNA evidence in the Kaimuki case is only a "potential match" between the DNA sample his client submitted in the Kaua'i case and evidence from the 85-year-old woman's apartment. He said police later took Baldaino's blood and compared it with evidence at the apartment, but the match was only blood type, not conclusive DNA evidence.
Circuit Judge Derrick Chan confirmed Baldaino's $500,000 bail yesterday, but Bakke said he intends to seek a reduction.
Baldaino is scheduled to be arraigned next week and would then get a trial date.
The indictment came after a confidential grand jury session, which spares the 85-year-old woman from testifying publicly today and being crossed-examined by the defense attorney at a preliminary hearing.
The indictment sends Baldaino's case to trial and cancels tomorrow's hearing, which was also to determine if Baldaino should face trial.
City prosecutors have a third option of sending certain felony cases to trial by submitting written police and witness statements to a judge. But that option, known as direct filing, does not apply to sexual-assault cases.
Hawai'i residents approved the third method when they voted in favor of a state constitutional amendment in November.
Reach Ken Kobayashi at kkobayashi@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8030.
