For 22 1/2 hours in March, 2011, a 14-year-old developmentally delayed girl went missing from her Toledo home, prompting a call to police and a community search, an assistant Lucas County prosecutor told a Lucas County Common Pleas Court jury on Monday.
And when she returned home the following day, a sexual-assault examination revealed the DNA of Ricky Jamison, leading to his arrest.
Jamison, 50, of 4285 Keygate Dr., Apt. 103, is charged with three counts of rape and one count of kidnapping for allegedly taking the teenager from in front of her home on March 3, 2011, and sexually assaulting her.
But while he is charged with forcibly kidnapping and raping her, Jamison said the sexual intercourse was consensual, his attorney said.
A jury of seven men and five women heard opening statements and the testimony of two witnesses Monday. Among the witnesses was the teen's mother, who said her daughter is developmentally delayed and has the learning capacity of a 6 or 7-year-old child.
The Blade does not identify victims of sexual assault.
Assistant County Prosecutor Jennifer Lambdin told jurors the teenager was outside her home playing when a strange man pulled up in a car, grabbed her, and took her to his apartment. There, he sexually assaulted her, causing "significant injuries."
She was found the next day walking near the Andover Apartments.
"The evidence will show that it was [Jamison's] DNA that was a match to the DNA on the swabs" taken during the sexual assault examination, Ms. Lambdin said.
Defense attorney Rebecca West-Estell told jurors that on that day, Jamison picked someone up and, at her request, took her to his apartment where they had consensual intercourse. She added that Jamison was merely accommodating the teen's request when he allowed her to spend the night in his apartment.
"This isn't the big, bad boogeyman sitting over there," she said, reminding the jurors of their obligations. "This is an innocent man sitting over there until the state proves otherwise."
If found guilty, Jamison faces up to 40 years in prison.
Additional witnesses will be called today to testify at Jamison's trial, over which Judge Gene Zmuda is presiding.
First Published August 14, 2012, 5:10 a.m.
