Man Convicted In Park Slope Cold Case
A Brooklyn jury yesterday convicted Johnny Jacob, 45, of Brooklyn, of first-degree rape for raping a 19-year-old woman on a subway platform in Park Slope in 1998.
“Thanks to the DNA evidence collected at the time of this attack the defendant has now been held accountable for this brutal rape. This case once again underscores the importance of DNA evidence in proving guilt or innocence. I’d also like to commend the victim for having the courage to testify at trial and bring this defendant to justice, ” Acting District Attorney Gonzalez said.
The case was solved through what is known as a “cold hit”. Johhny Jacobs DNA had been entered into New York DNA databank following a conviction on federal money laundering charges and matched positively the DNA sample obtained from the victim’s rape kit back in 1998. The defendant was arrested on October 4, 2013, according to the District Attorney’s office.
According to trial testimony, the 19-year-old victim was on her way to her first day at work on March 2, 1998. At approximately 9:30 in the morning she exited the M train at the 9th Street and Fourth Avenue stop. The defendant approached her, ordered her to the back of the platform, and forcibly raped her, while threatening to shoot her and placing what she believed to be a gun to her back. He told her he would kill her if she called the police.
Prosecutors say that the defendant, who was not known to the victim, then fled the scene, the victim ran to work, and her employer called 911 to report the rape. She was treated at Lutheran Hospital, where a rape kit was administered.
Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Dineen Riviezzo has set the sentencing for June 2, 2017, at which time Jacob faces up to 25 years in prison.
