AKRON, Ohio — A Summit County jury found a convicted Akron rapist guilty of a 2010 Barberton rape.
Derrick Fischer, 53, was found guilty on two counts of rape (F1.)
The victim told jurors that Fischer beat, strangled and raped her at an after-hours party.
Fischer was charged after DNA evidence linked him to the crime. He is currently behind bars after being convicted on drug and domestic violence charges in 2016. He was convicted of another rape in Akron in 1992.
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, an Akron mother told us DNA from her rape kit matched Fischer. But he was never arrested, charged, or prosecuted for the 1991 crime.
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 and currently runs out after 25 years.
Despite DNA evidence, by the time her sexual assault kit was tested, it was too late.
When the sexual assault occurred, Ohio’s statute of limitations was only 20 years.
“There was a violent crime where my children were home,” she told News 5 in 2019. ”And he got away with it."
According to the Ohio Attorney General’s office, the 1991 Akron 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.
