FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – A verdict is expected to be reached soon in a South Florida rape case that goes back decades.
"He grabbed her off the street in her own neighborhood, dragged her into the car and drove off. Why? So that he could commit the crime of sexual battery over and over again," Assistant State Attorney Patyl Oflazian told the jury Wednesday.
Prosecutors were not mincing words when talking about Dobie Hunter, who is accused of kidnapping and raping a 16-year-old girl in 1985.
The victim also spoke this week in court.
"I tell you, he is a sick man," the victim said.
The then-teen, who is now 47 years old, had gone to the Broward Sheriff's Office demanding that the cold case be reopened.
Her rape kit was retested 32 years after the crime and Hunter's DNA was linked to it, authorities said.
"You cannot hide from DNA evidence," Oflazian said.
But Hunter's attorney insists that the case hasn't been proven.
"If we're right and BSO is wrong about testing this DNA, this padlock is coming open," Clement Dean said.
Dean cast doubt on the DNA evidence, which he claims is not as reliable as prosecutors say, and says that the victim's and witness' stories differed.
"She didn't know if it was a one-story, a tall building, duplexes, nothing. She was all over the place," Dean said.
Hunter, a registered sex offender, decided not to testify in his trial.
"It is by the grace of God and through his mercy and his grace we are here today," the victim said.