DNA search warrant flawed in 2006 Miami University rape case, defense says

Lloyd Ailes’ trial in Butler County is set for May 23

An attorney for an Indiana man accused in a 2006 sexual assault of a Miami University student says DNA evidence in the case is tainted because it was obtained with a flawed search warrant.

Lloyd Wendell Ailes, 58, was taken into custody Dec. 9, 2021, in Connersville, Ind., by Ohio law enforcement, based on evidence pieced together by DNA tracing. The defense says two different names appear on the search warrant used to obtain Ailes’ DNA while he was still in Indiana, invalidating the document.

Ailes, who was a construction worker in Oxford in 2006, was indicted by a Butler County grand jury for rape, aggravated burglary and aggravated robbery. All charges carry a gun specification, alleging a gun was used in the crimes.

The indictment came after a lengthy investigation by the Butler County Prosecutor’s Office using DNA genealogy tracing. The investigation was led by county prosecutor’s investigator Paul Newton.

The assault occurred on Jan. 9, 2006, at an off-campus house, according to the indictment and Butler County Prosecutor Mike Gmoser.

The suspect wore a mask, but his face was visible to the woman for a brief time and a sketch of the suspect was developed. His DNA also was found.

After forcing the woman to commit several sex acts, Ailes took $60 from her purse, Gmoser said.

Defense Attorney David Washington has filed a motion to suppress evidence and statements in the case.

Ailes was served with a search warrant for a DNA sample on Nov. 21 in Fayette County, Ind., but “it appears the affidavit initated by Paul Newton was actually signed and submitted by someone named Joseph Baker. This completely invalidates the warrant itself, as it is not sign or notarized by the person listed as the affiant,” Washington wrote on the motion.

In March 2006, a similar attack happened in Fayette County, Ind. DNA collected there matched the DNA in the Oxford case. However, there was no match to DNA entered in any law enforcement database. The case went cold until following the DNA through genealogy pointed to the accused.

Washington said there was insufficient probable cause for the search warrant and the evidence obtained was the result of an unconstitutional search. A hearing about the search warrant has been set for March 17 in Butler County Common Pleas Court.

Gmoser said, “we will meet all challenges to this case.” On Tuesday, a response from the prosecution had not been filed, according to the clerk of courts website.

Ailes in being held in the Butler County Jail in lieu of $500,000. Judge Keith Spaeth set his trial for May 23.

Gmoser said his office had been working for years with experts from Parabon NanoLabs to track down the suspect using genealogy DNA databases to piece together a family tree of the suspect.

Investigators were able to find the suspect’s father, and then through unraveling a web of genealogy, eventually found his mother. But the man did not know he had fathered the son and the mother didn’t know her husband was not the father, Gmoser said.

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