Local News

19-year-old convicted of rape after acting in own defense

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WOWO): A 19-year-old already serving time for a robbery and shooting tried to represent himself in his rape trial in Fort Wayne yesterday.

It didn’t work.

A jury took just three-and-a-half hours to convict Walik Whiteside of attempted rape, sexual battery, and criminal deviate conduct yesterday, according to the Journal Gazette.

He was charged last year for a 2012 attack on a woman running on the Rivergreenway near Lower Huntington Road, after DNA collected from the scene matched with a sample of his DNA in the Department of Correction’s database.

Whiteside also didn’t help his case by ignoring objections, ignoring the judge, and directly talking to the victim, even though she wasn’t on the witness stand.

He faces 20 years in prison.

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