Rapist gets 24 years after DNA evidence links him to crime

By TERRY VAU DELL - Staff Writer

OROVILLE -- Though he claimed he doesn't remember the attack, an apologetic Chico rapist -- who was arrested after his DNA was found at the scene -- drew the maximum 24-year prison sentence Thursday.

Butte County Superior Court Judge Stephen Benson agreed that a psychological evaluation of Dominick Wynn, 36, should accompany him to prison and that he be considered for placement in a secure state mental facility "so that he can get treatment before he gets out."

Wynn was serving a prior prison term in an unrelated felony threats case last year when a state computer data bank matched his DNA with fluids left during a May 21, 2004, break-in and sexual assault of a young Chico woman, who had been asleep and unable to identify her attacker.

It was the second time in less than a year that a Butte County rape suspect was convicted based largely on the passage of Proposition 69 in November 2004, which mandates collection and placement of blood samples from prison inmates into a "cold-hit" state DNA data bank.

"I'm not a rapist ... I don't go around stalking women," Wynn insisted at his sentencing Thursday.

Though he said he still has no memory of the sexual assault, he couldn't ignore the scientific evidence against him.

"I was on meth and not in my right mind," the convicted rapist said. He wept as he apologized to the victim, and said his actions that night ruined both of their lives.

"I need help," he told the judge.

Deputy district attorney Brent Redelsperger urged the maximum possible sentence, noting Wynn had been armed with a knife when he broke into the sleeping woman's home and forcibly raped her.

Wynn had earlier stipulated to the 24-year term in a plea-bargain to avoid a possible life sentence .

In handing down the maximum sentence Thursday, the judge said he felt that being asleep at night in her own home, the victim was "particularly vulnerable." Benson also cited Wynn's "extensive" criminal history.

The convicted rapist's lawyer, Philip Heithecker, got the judge to include in the prison commitment documents the results of a recent psychiatric examination of Wynn, along with a letter from a family member, detailing the assailant's "troubled life."

The judge said that he would recommend that prison authorities confine the Chico rapist to a locked state prison hospital for treatment prior to Wynn being paroled.