Maryland Man Convicted of Sexually Assaulting Woman
In Early-Morning Attack in Northwest Washington
-DNA Later Tied Him to the Crime-

      WASHINGTON – Glenn A. Smith, Jr., 37, was found guilty by a jury today of sexually assaulting a 22-year-old woman in 2010, U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. announced.

      Smith, of Silver Spring, Md., was found guilty following a trial in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia of two counts of first-degree sexual abuse. The Honorable Thomas J. Motley scheduled sentencing for Feb. 22, 2013.

      According to the government’s evidence, on June 13, 2010, the victim was walking down Wisconsin Avenue NW, after leaving a party in the Friendship Heights neighborhood at approximately 2:30 am.  At the time, the victim had just graduated from Georgetown University with highest honors in her major.  She was unable to immediately hail a taxi, and Smith grabbed her behind a building near the intersection of Wisconsin Avenue and Ellicott Street.

      Smith grabbed the victim by the neck, turned her away from him, and choked her. He then pushed the victim to the ground and sexually assaulted her.  When the assault was over, he took the victim’s underwear and wiped her with it, and then fled, taking the underwear.

      The victim immediately reported the assault to police and was taken to Washington Hospital Center, where she was treated for injuries and swabbed for DNA.  The case was cold until May 2011, when the defendant was identified as a suspect through the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), a web of state and national databases containing DNA profiles from convicted offenders and crime scenes that is used as an investigative tool. Smith’s DNA was in the system as a result of an earlier conviction in a case involving identity fraud. MPD detectives obtained a sample of the defendant’s DNA, and it matched the DNA left behind by the assailant in 2010. 

      In announcing the verdict, U.S. Attorney Machen commended the work of detectives from the MPD’s Sexual Assault Unit, the Second Police District, and officers from the Forensic Science Division.  He also acknowledged the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Victim/Witness Advocate Veronica Vaughn, Paralegal Specialists Jason Manuel, Tiffany Jones, and Cynthia Muhammad; Karen Lee-Putt, of the Finance office, John Marsh, of the Criminal Investigations Unit, and Victim-Witness Specialists David Foster and Katina Adams-Washington.  He particularly commended the work of Leif Hickling and the entire Litigation Support Staff for a strong team effort.  Lastly, he thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Amy Zubrensky, who investigated and tried the case, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Kenya Davis, who co-tried the case.