Jesse Matthew Assault Case: Man Accused of Abducting Hannah Graham Gets a Trial Date
Jesse Matthew, the 32-year-old Albemarle, Virginia man accused of abducting University of Virginia student Hannah Graham, is facing a March 9, 2015, trial date for an unrelated sexual assault in Fairfax County.
Jesse Matthew plead not guilty to attempted capital murder, abduction with the intent to defile, and sexual assault charges related to an Oct. 24, 2005, incident.
According to presiding Judge Dennis Smith, as reported in the Daily Progress, the trial is expected to run for 6 or 7 days and is scheduled for an additional day "just in case."
In the interim, Matthew will be sent back to Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail where he will face a preliminary hearing.
In a statement reported in the Cavalier Times, the FBI said that the suspect grabbed the victim from behind as she walked down Rock Garden Drive toward her residence; he then, before fleeing, “carried the victim to a grassy area behind a maintenance shed, where he sexually assaulted her.”
Forensic analysis of DNA collected from under the woman’s fingernails concluded that chance that the DNA belongs to someone other than Matthew is “1 in greater than 7.2 billion.”
Matthew’s defense declined to seek a psychiatric evaluation.
Additionally, In Albemarle County, Matthew is charged with abduction with intent to defile in the case of Hannah Graham, who disappeared on Sept. 13. Graham’s body was found Oct. 18 in Albemarle.
Matthew’s Sept. 24 arrest in Texas provided a forensic link to another woman: Morgan Harrington, a Virginia Tech student who disappeared on Oct. 17, 2009, after leaving to use the restroom during the opening act of a Metallica concert at the John Paul Jones Arena.
Harrington’s body was found in early 2010 a half-dozen miles from where Graham’s remains were discovered.
Matthew, a former patient technician at the UVA medical center as well as a taxi driver, has since 2002 been accused and charged with several sexual assaults, possession of stolen property and has been convicted of trespassing.
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