Man pleads guilty to JPA Rape

Police think they’ve found the real rapist in the year-old case of a UVA law student. John Henry Agee pleaded guilty October 24 to sexually assaulting the woman and acknowledged the court could also convict him of rape. But a man who was wrongly accused of the crime is still suing the victim for misidentifying him.
At a hearing, Charlottesville Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Elizabeth Killeen described the events of the assault. The victim was at a party and, after several beers, began walking home on Jefferson Park Avenue toward Jefferson Ridge Apartments around 12:45am. The woman became aware that someone was following her, and changed direction down Sunset Avenue. There, she was grabbed from behind and dragged into the woods near Rivanna Trail where she kicked and resisted. She tried to talk her attacker out of raping her, then pretended to pass out while he raped her, according to Killeen.
Called to the scene, police found the victim’s earrings and underwear in the woods, and the victim was covered in dried mud and leaves, Killeen says. Shortly after the crime, police stopped Chris Matthew, who was walking home, and brought him to the scene where the victim identified him based on the sound of his voice.
A lawsuit is now pending for that misidentification. Matthew is seeking $750,000 in compensation—he spent about a week in jail without bond and was, his attorney claims, smeared as the serial rapist.
Agee was picked up later when his DNA, which was in the State databank from a previous felony conviction, matched DNA found at the crime scene. Agee entered an Alford plea on the rape charge. That means he acknowledges prosecutors have enough evidence for a conviction. He changed his story several times during interrogation, saying first that he was being set up because police could no longer pin the crime on Matthew, then saying he had been at the party and had had consensual sex with the victim. He faces two life sentences for rape and object sexual penetration at a hearing next January 18.
Matthew’s attorney, Deborah C. Wyatt, says her client’s suit was halted, pending the results of Agee’s prosecution. Now, she hopes hearings will continue. “I’m offended by our system,” says Wyatt. “If there had not been DNA evidence, the typical rape victim would be swearing up and down that she was positive it was him. Were it not for the DNA, Mr. Matthew might be pleading guilty not because he did it, but because: What are his chances of proving he didn’t do it?”
Yet another element to the convoluted case: Virginia Delegate Rob Bell introduced legislation earlier this year that would prevent lawsuits like Matthew’s. A bill to protect victims of rape who make their accusations in good faith would encourage more rape victims to come forward, Bell says. He is encouraging the State Crime Commission to examine the bill and recommend it to the General Assembly when they reconvene in 2007.