CEDAR CITY — A Cedar City man has been convicted of raping a 13-year-old girl more than 18 years ago.
Shawn Michael Smith, 42, was found guilty by a jury Thursday night, following a two-day trial. The eight-member jury deliberated for approximately two hours before returning to the courtroom and delivering the verdict to 5th District Judge Matthew L. Bell.
Smith’s sentencing has been scheduled for Feb. 2.
The case focused on an incident that reportedly happened on or about June 25, 2003, after Smith, then 23, had given the young teen a ride home from a local gym to the apartment that Smith shared with his wife and mother. The 13-year-old girl, who was friends with Smith’s sister-in-law, had also been staying there temporarily.
While the two were alone inside the residence, Smith first rubbed himself up against the girl and asked for sex, after which he threatened the girl with a knife and forcibly raped her, prosecutor Shane Klenk said during his opening statement Wednesday afternoon.
Klenk told jurors that after the rape and prior to leaving the residence, Smith forced the girl to wash out her vagina and cervix with a baby oil bottle that had been refilled with soapy water, thinking it would eliminate any trace of his bodily fluids.
“Smith remained utterly unconcerned and confident that his DNA would not be found,” Klenk said during his opening statement. “And for 17 long years, he was right.”
Klenk said that the technology available in 2003 was unable to generate a DNA profile sufficient for comparison, due to the small volume of the sample that was collected.
“The prosecutors at the time decided that without DNA evidence, they could not proceed forward with the case,” he said.
Then, in 2017, the sample in question was ordered to be retested as part of a statewide initiative passed by the Utah Legislature designed to improve rape test kit procedures and follow-up.
“When it was retested, it was now with equipment that was far more advanced, far more precise and far more sensitive,” Klenk continued. “And this time, a DNA profile was generated. That DNA profile was then compared to Shawn Smith’s DNA and it was a match.”
Over the course of the trial, several witnesses were called to the stand to testify. The first was the woman, now 31, who had reported being raped by Smith. While on the witness stand, she shared details of the encounter and said that Smith had exited the apartment by going out a back window but was still seen by a 17-year-old male acquaintance that she’d called and asked to come over, and who had been knocking at the front door.
That witness, identified in court as Steve Renner, now lives in Minnesota. He said he hasn’t been in touch with the girl he’d befriended or her family since 2003. Nevertheless, Renner told the court he felt it was important for him to appear in court and provide his testimony as to what he saw and heard that day.
“I believe that she deserves justice,” he said.
Other witnesses included police officers, medical personnel and forensic technicians who had been involved in collecting and handling evidence in the case.
Throughout the trial, defense attorney Shain Manuele had challenged various witnesses’ recollections of long-ago events. In several instances, a witness admitted they had little or no memory of a certain detail, such as how long and how many times Renner had knocked on the door, the size and color of the knife, the precise timeline of each person’s whereabouts that day and whether or not certain follow-up interviews had been conducted.
In his closing argument, Manuele asked the jury to consider any contradictions and inconsistencies in the testimony and apply them to the standard of reasonable doubt.
“The state’s proof must be more powerful than that,” he said. “It must be beyond a reasonable doubt. Proof beyond a reasonable doubt is proof that leaves you firmly convinced of the defendant’s guilt.”
“You should also consider whether the witness gives self-contradicting testimony or was contradicted by other evidence,” Manuele added. Earlier, he had specifically challenged the accuser’s credibility, saying that she’d changed certain key aspects of her story.
“Guess what? She was also told that the reports were gone,” Manuele told the jury. “She has a clean slate. She gets to tell her story afresh and anew. But we do have documents from 2003 that completely contradict what she said and completely destroy her credibility.”
The reference to reports being gone was an issue brought up throughout the case: certain police records made in 2003, including audio recordings of interviews, had since been destroyed as part of the protocol of the police department’s retention policy. Although the defense had raised objections related to the loss of such evidence prior to the trial, the court overruled the objections and said there was still sufficient evidence for the case to continue.
During his closing argument, Iron County Attorney Chad Dotson said he and the other prosecutors also wished that the destroyed records, particularly the recordings of the initial interviews, were still available.
“This was a case that wasn’t anticipated to be prosecuted until the SAKI Initiative and the kit was retested,” he said, referring to the legislature’s Sexual Assault Kit Initiative. “Nothing malicious going on here, nobody destroying things, trying to do anything untoward or unethical.”
“The only person that did anything to try and destroy evidence or hide evidence in this case (was) the defendant,” Dotson added. “When did he do that? That baby oil bottle. He worked very hard and he was confident in his ability, that he had washed out every last sperm cell that he’d left behind. That’s the only person that’s destroyed any evidence in this case.”
Following the closing arguments, the jury left the courtroom about 5:30 p.m. Thursday and deliberated for approximately two hours before returning with their unanimous verdict.
Smith, who has been incarcerated in Iron County Jail since March 23, faces at least five years in prison when he is sentenced in February.
After the trial concluded, Dotson told Cedar City News, “This has been a unique and important case for our office. The defendant had eluded justice for over 18 years after committing a horrific, degrading, and violent rape. Now, Shawn Michael Smith will finally be held accountable for what he has done.”
In addition to the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative that prompted the DNA sample to be retested, Dotson also gave credit to the those who took the stand to testify.
“We located several witnesses from 2003 that were still available to testify, some who lived on the other side of the country,” he said. “The way the case came together after all these years is really quite remarkable.”
“My team and I feel so fortunate to have been a part of such a meaningful outcome, for a victim who has waited a very long time for justice,” Dotson added.
As for Smith’s accuser, the 31-year-old woman told Cedar City News that she was also satisfied with the verdict.
“My ultimate goal was to make absolutely sure he never did anything like that again to any other little girls or women out there,” she said via text message on Friday. “They deserve their safety.”
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