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108 Chapter Ten When a Match Is Not a Match  Many of the other deputy district attorneys in my office, along with prosecutors across California and the country , were becoming accustomed to using DNA evidence. I always found it interesting at the outset of my lectures to ask how many of the prosecutors in attendance had tried a case that included DNA evidence. As the years passed, the number of hands that went up kept increasing. The technology was clearly playing an increasingly important role in trials all over the United States. But even the most experienced deputy district attorney could be tripped up. All one could do was hope that it didn’t happen in the middle of a serious trial. Mike Carpenter, my team leader at the time, was the unlucky prosecutor whom lightning struck. Carpenter had a serious case. Four different women were sexually assaulted between September 1994 and January 1995. The facts were disturbing. The first victim, a woman named Merle, worked as a lingerie model and nude dancer. The rules of her job permitted her to dance and to provide escort services for clients, but she was specifically prohibited from taking part in sexual acts. At about three o’clock one morning in September, she received a call to go to an apartment in Spring Valley, several miles east of San Diego. She went with her cousin, who customarily drove Merle to her clients, accompanied her until Merle was comfortable with the situation, and then waited outside while she performed. Merle knocked on the door of the apartment. A man answered and let her inside. The two discussed the fee; Merle was given $135 by the man, who signed a contract that Merle had brought with her. She went outside and told her cousin that everything was all right. The cousin stayed in the car while Merle returned to the apartment. Once inside, she used the bathroom to change into lingerie . When she came back into the main room, the man masturbated while R4400.indb 108 R4400.indb 108 8/24/07 11:46:36 AM 8/24/07 11:46:36 AM 109 When a Match Is Not a Match Merle danced. The man offered to pay her for sex, but Merle explained that she was forbidden to. She told him that she could perform a “hot show” for an additional tip. The man gave Merle an additional forty dollars for a hardcore show. Merle began, but the man grabbed her and knocked her down to the floor. The two struggled. The man told Merle that he was a police officer and threatened to handcuff her if she didn’t do what he wanted. Merle pleaded with him to take her to the police station. The attacker forced Merle into the bedroom and tried to rape her but was only able to partially penetrate her. Merle screamed, but the man put his hand over her mouth and threatened to shoot her with a gun. Merle continued to struggle with the man, who then tried to suffocate her. He slapped Merle on her face and turned her over and tried to rape her again, slightly penetrating her. He ejaculated on Merle’s buttocks and thighs and then wiped her with a pillowcase. Merle was able to free herself from his grip and ran out the door. She told her cousin what had happened, and her cousin drove her back to the office. The owner of the company took Merle to a sheriff’s substation in Spring Valley. Merle was examined at Grossmont Hospital. The exam yielded material from Merle’s shoulder and the back of her thighs that turned out to be semen . Injuries to different portions of her vagina were consistent with forced sexual intercourse. A search warrant was obtained for the man’s apartment based on the allegations by Merle. Sheriff’s detectives seized a pillowcase from the apartment. That pillowcase later proved to have semen on it. Curiously , the man, whose name was John Ivan Kocak, telephoned Merle’s employer that night to complain that Merle had stolen money from him. April, the second victim, was trying to sell the condominium she shared with her husband in La Mesa, another bedroom community east of San Diego. On January 16, April returned home from shopping at about 9:45 in the morning with her seven-month-old daughter. After putting her baby in a swing, she returned to her car in the parking...

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