AKRON, Ohio — The rape trial of Derrick Fischer continued Tuesday with opening statements and testimony from the alleged victim of a 2010 Barberton sexual assault.
A forensic nurse also testified Tuesday.
Prosecutors said Fischer was linked to the case through DNA from a sexual assault kit.
Fischer, 53, is charged with two counts of rape.
The alleged victim told jurors she was beaten, strangled and raped by Fischer at a party in September 2010. She said a knock at the door allowed her to escape from the room she was in.
The forensic nurse who conducted the alleged victim's emergency room exam read aloud her notes.
"Sobbing while being asked questions about the assault," she said.
She also read aloud the alleged victim's statement."
"He shoved me against the wall by holding me by my neck," the alleged victim said.
Fischer's attorney said the alleged victim was at the hospital primarily to detox from drugs.
He also noted the forensic exam could not determine with certainty whether a sexual assault occurred.
Jury selection began Monday in the Summit County Court of Common Pleas.
An Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation DNA analyst and a Barberton detective are expected to testify later this week.
Fischer is already behind bars. He was convicted in 2016 on drug and domestic violence charges. He was also convicted of another rape in Akron in 1992.
DNA also previously linked Fischer to a 1991 sexual assault, according to the victim in that case. But he cannot be prosecuted due to the statute of limitations in Ohio.
Expired Justice
News 5 first told you about Fischer in an exclusive investigation, “Expired Justice," which revealed how Ohio law allows some rapists to walk free.
RELATED: Despite DNA evidence, statute of limitations prevents prosecution of Ohio rape cases
In 2019, Mary Ellen Bryan, an Akron mother, told us DNA from her sexual assault kit matched Fischer. But he was never arrested, charged, or prosecuted for the 1991 crime.
By the time her sexual assault kit was tested, it was too late.
Justice had expired.
Like most states, Ohio has a statute of limitations for rape. The law creates a clock. It starts when the crime is committed. It currently runs out after 25 years. There is an additional five-year window for the discovery of DNA evidence.
But when Mary Ellen was attacked, Ohio’s statute of limitations was only 20 years.
Prosecutors explained to her that on June 29, 2011, her window to receive justice had closed.
“There was a violent crime where my children were home,” Bryan told News 5 in 2019. ”And he got away with it."
According to the Ohio Attorney General’s office, Bryan’s case was one of 61 cases where no one can ever be prosecuted, despite a DNA match discovered during the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative, which was started in 2012 by then-Attorney General Mike DeWine to DNA test the state’s backlog of sexual assault kits.
RELATED: Convicted Akron rapist behind bars now on trial for 2010 case
