Man convicted in 1983 rape appeals on fingerprint evidence
By Denise Lavoie, AP Legal Affairs Writer | November 10, 2005
BOSTON --A convicted rapist whose claims of innocence have rallied prominent people to his cause took his
case to the state Appeals Court on Thursday, arguing a fingerprint report that was never turned over to the defense could
have changed the verdict.
Benjamin LaGuer was convicted in 1984 in the rape of a 59-year-old woman, his former neighbor in a Leominster apartment
complex. He has maintained his innocence and former Boston University President John Silber and historian Elie Wiesel are
among the notables who joined his fight for a new trial.
LaGuer's lawyer, James Rehnquist, son of the late Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist, said a fingerprint report
uncovered by state police in 2001 might have changed the strategy of LaGuer's defense during his trial.
The report said four fingerprints found on a telephone in the victim's apartment did not match LaGuer's. The victim's hands
were bound with the phone chord.
During the trial, a police officer testified that one partial fingerprint was found on the base of the phone, and that
it did not match LaGuer's. Rehnquist told the three-judge appeals panel that the jury should have seen the report saying there
were actually four full fingerprints.
"Conceivably, if they had a document, it might have affected trial strategy and the outcome of the case," he said.
But Assistant District Attorney Sandra Hautanen argued the fingerprint report does nothing to prove LaGuer's innocence
and that it would not have changed the verdict. She said prosecutors never received the report during the trial and that state
police came across it while cleaning out files in 2001.
Hautanen said there was ample evidence for the jury to convict LaGuer, including the victim's statement to police: "It
was the man next door."
"She knew his face," Hautanen said.
The woman died in 1999.
The appeal is the latest in a series of bids by LaGuer to win a new trial. In the past, LaGuer, who is black and Hispanic,
has argued that his lawyer did not adequately represent him, that racism tainted the jury and that DNA tests would clear his
name. His conviction has stood each time.
Last year, Worcester Superior Court Judge Timothy Hillman also rejected his argument on the fingerprint report.
LaGuer is serving a sentence of 15 years to life. The appeals court did not indicate when it would issue a ruling.
Silber, who attended the hearing, said afterward that LaGuer deserves a new trial because of "irregularities on the part
of police and prosecutors."
"I don't think there is any question that a new trial is needed," he said. "And I'm no bleeding heart."
