Registered Sex Offender Found Guilty of Violent Sexual Assault on Capitol Hill

WASHINGTON—A 47-year-old District of Columbia man, James Blackmon, has been found guilty of a violent sexual assault on Capitol Hill that occurred in February 2008, U.S. Attorney Jeffrey A. Taylor announced today.

Blackmon, formerly of the 400 block of 11th Street, NE, was found guilty today by a D.C. Superior Court Jury of multiple counts of First Degree Sexual Abuse, as well as First Degree Burglary and Kidnapping. When he is sentenced on May 22, 2009, by the Honorable Geoffrey Alprin, the defendant, because he has previously been convicted of a sex offense, and who is a registered sex offender, will face a maximum possible sentence of life imprisonment.

According to the government’s evidence, on February 4, 2008, during the midmorning hours, Blackmon gained access to the victim’s apartment on 10th Street, SE (PSA 106), by feigning interest in renting an apartment. When the victim allowed him to enter the building, he trapped her in her apartment, beat her in the head and face, and raped her several times. After the rape, Blackmon asked the victim for money and ordered her to shower. Shortly thereafter, he left.

The victim suffered serious injury and was taken to Howard University Hospital where a sexual assault nurse exam was completed. The swabs taken from the victim during this exam were sent to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for DNA testing. The FBI placed the male DNA profile found on one of these swabs in the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), a web of state and national databases containing DNA from convicted offenders and crime scenes that is used as an investigative tool. The defendant was identified Page 2 as a suspect because of CODIS. The FBI then did further DNA testing, which confirmed that Blackmon was the man who raped the victim in this case.

In announcing the jury’s verdict, U.S. Attorney Taylor praised the work of MPD Detectives Karen Zibrat and Derek Bolding, Officer Brian Holland, and Mobile Crime Lab Technicians Natasha Pettus and Dwayne Mitchell. He also praised the work of paralegals Jason Manual and Eugena Johnson, Legal Assistant Tiffany Jones, and Victim Advocate Tracy Hawkins. Finally, he commended Assistant U.S. Attorney Andy Lopez, who investigated the case, and Sharon Donovan, who is prosecuting it.