Man accused of Ga.-S.C. rapes convicted of Savannah assaults

<p>A 24-year-old man accused of a series of rapes in Georgia and South Carolina in 2004 was convicted Thursday of 31 charges, including five rapes in Chatham County.</p><p>Prosecutors called more than 30 witnesses in the trial of Ron Young, which began on Monday.</p><p>In closing arguments Thursday, prosecutor Meg Heap reminded the jury that all of the women Young was accused of raping identified him as the man who attacked them. In three cases, there was DNA evidence. Two victims helped a forensic artist come up with a sketch of Young.</p><p>"This is about control and degradation. He hunted these women down, he followed them, he chose them, he picked them, controlled them and made them perform. There's more than enough evidence and that man right there committed these crimes," Heap said.</p><p>Defense lawyer Richard Darden argued that the witnesses "told us the truth as they know it, but this is mistaken identity. I agree someone has to pay, but don't decide innocence or guilt on emotion."</p><p>Young was arrested the morning of July 6, 2005, after a Walterboro, S.C., woman told police she had been abducted and forced at gunpoint to perform oral sex by a man wearing a white ball cap and driving a blue Dodge Intrepid.</p><p>A Hardeeville, S.C., police officer testified Wednesday he saw the car traveling south on Interstate 95 and began tailing it around 4:15 a.m.</p><p>He and two Port Wentworth, Ga., police officers stopped the car after it crossed the Georgia-South Carolina state line.</p><p>Port Wentworth Police Cpl. Ray Lopez said he recognized Young, the driver, as the "serial rapist" from a composite sketch that had been at headquarters for months.</p><p>Barbara Retzer, a forensic biologist with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Crime Lab, said Young's DNA matched evidence collected from each of the victims.</p><p>Co-defense attorney Emory Bazemore argued that evidence can be tampered with or contaminated.</p>

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