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Convicted rapist's hearing for new trial continues

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By Joanne Huist Smith, Staff Writer Updated 11:46 PM Monday, November 22, 2010

Attorneys for R. Dean Gillispie must wait until Dec. 20 to finish presenting their case for a new trial on grounds that three women misidentified the Fairborn man as the rapist and kidnapper who attacked them in August 1988.

Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge A.J. Wagner continued the hearing Monday after learning the county Prosecutor’s Office hadn’t been notified of several witnesses being called to testify.

“I was disappointed we weren’t able to go forward today,” said Ohio Innocence Project Director Mark Godsey, who with former Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro is representing Gillispie. “I think we will prevail, because the evidence is strong.”

Godsey said that in a new trial, a jury will hear evidence about an alternate suspect — Kevin Cobb, 48 — a former officer at the Lebanon Correctional Institution. Cobb, who lives in Indiana, has not been charged in the crime.

Godsey introduced into evidence an image that combined a composite sketch of the attacker done by police with Cobb’s employee identification photo from his job at Lebanon Correctional. The images were put together for the Innocence Project by Jim Petro’s wife, Nancy.

The chin, hairline, lips and nose match up, she said. Sunglasses were added for comparison purposes.

Godsey said two witnesses will testify that Cobb told them he was from Corpus Christi, Texas, a statement the attacker also made. The rapist also used the name Roger, a name Cobb had used at least once, Godsey said.

The attacker, wearing sunglasses, kidnapped twin sisters at gunpoint from a Miami Twp. strip mall. After an account of the attack was publicized, a third victim came forward saying she too had been attacked in a similar manner by a man matching the same description.

The victims’ original description of the attacker didn’t fit Gillispie.

Gillispie had a mustache and receding hairline, as the victims said the perpetrator did. But, the victims originally described a dark, suntanned man with reddish-brown hair, no chest hair and no accent, who smoked and had a loud, authoritative voice. Gillispie is pale-skinned with brown hair, thick chest hair and a Kentucky drawl. He is a non-smoker with a soft voice.

Two years ago, Wagner denied Gillispie’s request for a new trial without holding a hearing. Gillispie appealed and last year the Ohio 2nd Court of Appeals sent the case back to Wagner, telling him to hold a hearing on the new evidence to determine if a new trial is warranted.

No physical evidence tied Gillispie to the attacks. He was picked out of a police photo lineup 23 months after the crimes. His conviction hinged on the three victims’ eyewitness identification.

For Gillispie’s mother, who attended the hearing, even a short delay in knowing if her son will get a new trial, is too long.

“Twenty years is like a lifetime,” Juana Gillispie said. “It’s too long.”

Calls to Cobb requesting an interview were not returned.

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