ATLANTA — An accused serial rapist is defending himself from behind bars. His case is one Fulton County prosecutors said was solved through the testing of thousands backlogged rape kits.
Dandre Shabazz, 55, said he's been waiting years to tell his story. In a jail house video recorded by his friend Monday night, he says he's innocent of raping a dozen women.
"I didn't run from this because of the simple fact I knew I never raped no one," he said.
Prosecutors paint a very different picture of Shabazz. Assistant District Attorney Julianna Peterson called him "a cunning, violent and ruthless serial rapist" during her opening statement for his trial on Tuesday.
She said between 2002 and 2005, Shabazz targeted women walking alone then sexually assaulted them in a park or abandoned home, sometimes at gunpoint.
District Attorney, Paul Howard told 11 Alive he discovered Shabazz's case in 2017 as the state was trying to clear the rape kit backlog. In 2018, he formed a task force to pour through data from sexual assault kits with the goal of investigating and indicting cases.
Shabazz's attorney, Serge Jerome, Jr., said his client's case should not have been included.
"The GBI matched the DNA on these as early as 2006 nothing was done at that time.” Instead, Jerome said, authorities waited until witnesses died and evidence became stale.
Jerome said the D.A. called the cases cold which would mean they were still open, but waiting for more evidence.
READ: Convicted rapist already in prison linked to Spelman case after rape kit sat untouched for 15+ years
"There was nothing about these cases that was unsolved," he said. "There was nothing about these cases that was waiting for more evidence. These cases were closed out.”
Shabazz has already been serving time for armed robbery. He faces a number of other charges in connection with the alleged rapes including, kidnapping, armed robbery, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, aggravated sodomy, and aggravated child molestation.
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