Butler Count jury deliberates kidnapping, rape case

HAMILTON, Ohio - It's up to a 12-person jury to decide whether or not 26-year-old Alfredo Cruz is guilty of kidnapping and raping a 9-year-old Hamilton girl on Father's Day in 2005.

Butler County Judge Keith Spaeth told the jury of seven women and five men that they will have five counts to decide upon: one count of kidnapping and four counts of rape.

Cruz, who was addressed as Mario Morales by his attorney--one of his six aliases, according to court records--pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Both the defense and prosecution took the podium to address the jury with closing arguments Wednesday afternoon for a trial that started Monday.

During her closing, Assistant Prosecutor Jennifer McElfresh told jurors that Cruz's fingerprints on the victim's bike and his DNA on her legs and breast, proved Cruz repeatedly raped her.

"Fingerprints aren't forced. DNA isn't forced--[people] run when they're guilty," said McElfresh.

Defense Attorney Lawrence Hawkins III told jurors the victim had too many "inconsistencies" and "inaccuracies" in her story.

"My client is presumed innocent--he's got the cloak of innocence around him until the prosecution removes it," Hawkins told the jury, as he removed his tan suit jacket and draped it over the back of the defendant's chair.

During the trial, police said that Cruz grabbed the girl off her bike June 19, 2005 and took her into a vacant home on Sycamore Street where he allegedly raped her. Investigators said the girl later escaped and told her family what happened.

Cruz, who sat in the courtroom's defense table with headphones on his head for translation, disappeared soon after the girl told family members she had been assaulted.

He fled from Butler County to Mexico in 2005--and was arrested in March 2011 after a joint effort by Mexican and U.S. authorities.

During the interrogation Cruz told investigators, "I didn't hurt the girl. I did not have sex with the girl," said his attorney during closing arguments. He continued closing by telling the jury that Cruz did not flee, but rather "went home."

McElfresh continued her closing by telling the jury that after six years "some things just don't change… like her memories of getting a new bike that she never rode again."

She told the jury that the inconsistencies in the victim's story, like recollecting a tattoo on Cruz's shoulder that wasn't there, is not material to the case. This, she said, is about "do we have the right guy?"

"He's the right guy--he's the one who kidnapped and raped [her]," she said, reminding the jury about when the victim, now 15 years old, took the stand Monday. She was the first witness to take the stand.

The prosecutor reminded the jury in closing that the victim "nervously smiled" walking into the courtroom, "heroically" taking the stand, but then cried while testifying about what had happened to her. Then she asked to go to the bathroom, to gather her wits about her. McElfresh told the jury "that demeanor is survival." Just like when she was allegedly raped and asked Cruz to go to the bathroom--it was about "survival--to gather herself."

Back in 2005, the case caused emotional outrage in the Hamilton neighborhood where the alleged attack took place. The home believed to be the site of the attack was vandalized and set fire to twice--it was later burned down.

At 2:15 p.m. Wednesday afternoon, Judge Spaeth sent the jury to deliberate on the case.