Man convicted in DNA sexual assault case

A jury on Tuesday convicted a Monroe County man of sneaking into a stranger's home and sexually assaulting a 7-year-old girl four years ago.

The 12-member jury took 90 minutes to convict Ronald R. Sachs, 26, on two counts of first degree criminal sexual conduct and one count of home invasion.

"I'm grateful he was convicted," said Monroe County Assistant Prosecutor Kenneth M. Swinkey, who tried the case. "It's hard to accept people like that live in our community. It's the worst kind of horror. It's very creepy, very scary."

The key to the conviction, Mr. Swinkey said, was that DNA collected from the victim on the night of the attack matched the defendant's DNA. A forensic scientist testified Tuesday during the two-day trial that there was little doubt the DNA belonged to Mr. Sachs.

Heather Vitta of the Michigan State Police crime lab said in court that the chances it was someone else's DNA on the little girl were 1 in 1.2 quintillion.

"There's no doubt it's him," Mr. Swinkey said. "It's impossible that it could have been anyone else."

The attack occurred on a dark, rainy early morning on May 12, 2002. The victim and Mr. Sachs lived in the Pleasantville Mobile Home Park on Nadeau Rd. in Frenchtown Township.

Both testified that they did not know each other. Mr. Swinkey noted that the community's playground is close to where the victim had lived.

While the victim was sleeping, an intruder cut her window screen and crawled inside her bedroom, where he sexually assaulted the girl. She screamed and her mother came to help, but the suspect had fled.

Monroe County sheriff's detectives investigated the case and interviewed many people, but the leads ran dry. In 2004, Mr. Sachs was convicted of fleeing and eluding police in Monroe County. As is law, his DNA was collected after the felony conviction and his profile added to a data system.

Mr. Swinkey said Ms. Vitta routinely runs cold cases through the system to see if there are matches. In 2005, there was a match, so she contacted Monroe sheriff's Detective Dave Davison. Soon after, he took Mr. Sachs into custody.

The trial was held before Monroe County Circuit Judge Michael W. LaBeau. He will sentence the defendant Dec. 7.

Mr. Swinkey called 15 witnesses to testify. Mr. Sachs, who took the stand in his own defense, was defended by Monroe attorney James Davies. He declined to comment.

Among the witnesses Mr. Swinkey called was the victim, who now is 11. Mr. Swinkey said she is doing as well as can be expected under the circumstances, but her mother is struggling. He praised the victim for taking the stand and facing the man convicted of attacking her.

"She's a brave little girl," Mr. Swinkey said. "It took a lot of guts to sit up there and say what she had to say but she did it. She's a real trooper."