Attorney: DNA untested in rape conviction

WORCESTER -- A superior court judge will decide if a former Fitchburg man serving 32-41 years for two separate child rapes will be granted a new trial to challenge the DNA results used as evidence in his first conviction in 2006.

Roy Dumas, 58, handcuffed and dressed in standard prison garb, appeared Thursday before Superior Court Judge Richard T. Tucker with his attorney, Edward Gauthier, to request a new trial.

Gauthier argued that during Dumas' first trial in 2006, the forensic expert who testified that Dumas' DNA matched that found on the victim did not actually test the DNA sample used to convict him.

Gauthier also said the victim never did positively identify Dumas as her attacker because a bag was put over her head before the sexual assault.

He also said Dumas presented an alibi defense that he was seen by at least three witnesses in another part of the state during the time of the assault.

"The nail in the coffin was the DNA evidence. It was the strongest part of the case," said Gauthier.

Dumas, said Gauthier after the hearing, was denied the right to cross examine the technician who tested the sample of his DNA during the first trial.

That, said Gauthier, is the basis of his request for a new trial.

But Assistant District Attorney Donna-Marie Haran said that when the DNA expert, who did not test the sample but reported the results, was cross-examined by Dumas' defense attorney, the opportunity to call the DNA tester as a witness was waived.

Haran cited case law that waived the right for the defense to call the DNA tester.

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Attorney: DNA untested in rape conviction