The man originally charged in the rape was arrested Aug. 27 after a detective noticed a similarity between him and an artist's sketch of the attacker. The victim also identified the man accused in a photo array. But prosecutors in September dropped the charges when a DNA match was not made.
The attorney who represented the first suspect, Chaz Ricks, said his client is thrilled a new arrest has been made. He said Ricks and his family have struggled because of the publicity the attack generated.
"It has adversely affected his psyche," said the attorney, Larry Rosenberg. "And I think his grandmother was greatly affected. She will be happy."
Authorities routinely compare DNA samples from crime victims to samples collected from people convicted of crimes to see if a match can be made. That is what occurred this case, according to court documents. Those documents say the victim was not able to identify Ervin from a police photo lineup.
Ervin was being held at the Patuxent Institution, a state treatment facility for mentally ill prisoners, on Friday, the day the warrant for his arrest in the rape was served. He is now being held without bond at the Baltimore City Detention Center. He has a preliminary hearing scheduled for May 6.
Authorities are increasingly using DNA evidence to identify suspects in criminal cases, and Gov. Martin O'Malley recently completed a successful push for an expansion of DNA collection. Samples will be collected from suspects charged with violent crimes - not just those convicted - but under a compromise with critics, samples will be destroyed if charges do not result in a conviction.
Since 2002, city prosecutors have won eight murder convictions and six sex-offense convictions after DNA taken from a victim matched samples found in databases, according to Burns, with the city state's attorney's office.
"On sex offenses, we've had about a dozen people charged after matches, but only half have been successfully prosecuted because we've had issues with recontacting victims," she said. "They've often moved on. It has been years since the sex offense. And they often are reluctant to have that chapter reopened in their lives."
melissa.harris@baltsun.com
Sun reporter Brent Jones contributed to this article.
