New Lenox man convicted in Orland Park rape

An accused serial flasher from New Lenox was convicted Thursday evening of cornering and raping a woman in her husband's Orland Park office building.

A Cook County jury deliberated a little more than an hour before deciding that David F. Baller, 43, was the masked man who on Feb. 7, 2005, raped the now-53-year-old woman and made her perform two sex acts on him using lubricant he took from his pockets.

They were not told he still is accused in a separate series of flashings in Flossmoor and Homer Glen in 2005, and a 2003 rape in Frankfort.

Judge David P. Sterba read aloud guilty verdicts in all seven felony charges, including aggravated criminal sexual assault and aggravated kidnapping.

Currently Baller faces between six and 60 years in prison and is not eligible for probation, Assistant State's Attorney Peter Troy said.

Baller, whose face remained motionless throughout the two days of testimony and arguments, stayed emotionless. So did his mother, who had been escorted out of the courtroom by a deputy for remarks she made after closing arguments.

Afterward, she said she wanted to appeal her son's case.

"It ain't over till it's over," she said.

Seated between her husband and a court advocate at the front of the room full of detectives, the victim shed silent tears and hugged her husband as Orland Park and Flossmoor detectives in the case shook each other's hands.

"I'm so glad," she said.

The victim had testified Wednesday that a strange masked man cornered her in her husband's empty Orland Park office the evening of Feb. 7, 2005, and marched her to a back room where he assaulted her, threatening, "I'll break your face in half."

A mother of two, she told jurors she was not physically harmed but was terrified about what could happen to her.

About a month after the attack, Baller was pulled over in Flossmoor for a missing front license plate. He was taken to the station for further questioning after his pickup truck matched a description of a flasher who exposed himself to office workers in the 19730 block of Governors Highway.

After Orland Park detectives joined in the questioning, Baller said in a handwritten statement he meant to flash the woman in the office building on 163rd Place but found the door open, police testified at trial. Once inside, he said he told the woman to perform sex acts on him.

He also told police he wanted help against his frequent urges to expose himself.

On a wooden rail in front of jurors, Troy laid out items from two rape kits -- the box of evidence he said was carefully collected from the victim's body at Palos Community Hospital, contrasted with a row of clothing and tools police found in Baller's truck he called "David Baller's rape kit."

Cotton vaginal swabs and hair combings came from her kit; personal lubricant, a ski mask and binoculars made up part of Baller's, Troy said.

"Her fingernail scrapings, his fist," Troy contrasted for jurors. "There's part of the rape kit you can't see, one more thing he needed but he couldn't bring -- her hands."

Baller had threatened the woman with his fist, saying, "I'll break your face," if she didn't comply, Troy said.

Baller's attorney, Anderson J. Ward, said he empathized with the victim's suffering but insisted police had the wrong man. The recovered DNA excluded Baller, Ward said.

"The evidence simply does not support the theory that Mr. Baller perpetrated this horrible offense against (the victim)," he said.

Forensic experts had testified Thursday morning that Baller's DNA was found on the front of the woman's jeans, in two places where she said Wednesday she had wiped her hands after two sex acts Baller made her perform.

Katherine Sullivan, a forensic biologist at the Illinois State Police crime lab, said the DNA found on the woman's pants matched a cheek swab police took from Baller. Even though no sperm was found in the stain, other cellular materials in the semen matched Baller's DNA, she testified.

Ward focused on single points along the DNA chains, arguing that sections could not have come from Baller but possibly from two other men Orland Park police took cheek swabs from for comparison in the rape case. He argued that the lubricant used on the victim's hands likely contaminated the samples.

Sullivan replied that no substance could change someone's DNA into Baller's.

In his closing argument, Ward lamented what he called "sloppy police work," accusing police of singling out Baller before exhausting all their possible leads.

"What evidence was collected was not followed up on," Ward said of various paper towels found in the bathroom where the victim hid once escaped her masked assailant. "We don't know if additional evidence would have been gained had the other evidence been meticulously processed and meticulously tested."

He reminded jurors that no one had ever identified Baller's face as the rapist's.

"Before even considering these things," Ward told them, pointing to a chart listing the seven felony charges, "you have to be convinced the perpetrator was not Mr. Baller."

In the end, Troy's prediction came true.

"We've considered the evidence, and we believe these," placing the lubricant and blue ski mask on the defense table in front of the bespectacled gray-haired defendant, "are yours," Troy said to conclude his arguments.

Baller, a father of three, returns Dec. 22 for sentencing.

Meanwhile, Baller must also return to Cook County Circuit Court in Markham and Will County Criminal Court in two other pending cases.