Accused rapist takes the stand

Bruce Braggs testified today he ran from police June 3, 2007 near the Kirkwood Court Apartments because he thought they were following him because he didn't have a driver's license.

Braggs was denying breaking into one of the apartments and sexually assaulting a 19-year-old college student, but he never really denied it because his defense attorney nor the prosecutor directly asked him.

Braggs is standing trial for first-degree burglary and second-degree sexual assault in Linn County District Court.

The defense should finish its case Monday and the jury may start deliberations in the afternoon. The trial resumes 9 a.m. Monday.

Braggs said he was out partying with a friend June 3, around midnight 3 a.m. or so and then another friend called him and asked Braggs to pick him at Kirkwood Courts.

He went to the complex and started walking around looking for his friend. He then saw two women, one the alleged victim, walking up a hill and when the alleged victim made eye contact with him, he walked the other way.

Braggs then saw a police car pulling into the parking lot. He assumed they were following him because he didn't have a driver's license and he knows the “Cedar Rapids police profile black people.”

This would be about the time, around 4:30 a.m. or so, the alleged victim testified a black man broke into her apartment and raped her. When police arrived, she told them he had just gone out a window.

At least one officer, saw the suspect running from the building and started a foot chase, according to earlier testimony.

Braggs said he ran to avoid them and took off his white T-shirt to conceal his identity. He claims he spent two hours in a garage hiding from police.

Braggs said a few minutes later, he saw a security officer behind him and tried to run into an apartment building but was followed by the officer and taken into custody.

On cross examination, Linn County attorney Harold Denton asked him if he saw officers get out of their cars.

Braggs then said they didn't chase him. He just thought they would. He said the officers were chasing another black man wearing a red shirt.

The alleged victim said the black man who raped her was wearing a red shirt.

Braggs then admitted he didn't see another black man that day.

David Soll, a University of Iowa molecular biologist professor, also testified regarding DNA testing in this case.

He said the results from a penile swab was a weak sample and it should have been done again. What caused him concern was the DNA from Braggs' underwear showed a “perfect” or “textbook” mixture of Braggs' DNA and the alleged victim's.

He doesn't understand how that happened because the penile swab sample was so weak and only had female DNA on it. Only two possible reasons for it - it just happened, a fluke, or it was cross contamination between samples, he said.

Soll also said he didn't think the swab was collected correctly and questioned the competency of a state crime lab's criminalist because she didn't perform the tests twice.