FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WOWO): A man accused of raping a woman in a Fort Wayne park almost four years ago has decided to act as his own lawyer.
Police say 19-year-old Walik Whiteside grabbed a woman from behind on the Rivergreenway in September 2012, put her in a “sleeper hold” to knock her out, and raped her.
The Journal Gazette reports he was charged in 2015 when DNA evidence collected after the rape matched a DNA sample of his that was on record with the Indiana Department of Corrections.
Whiteside, who’s already serving a 25-year prison sentence for shooting a teenager in the back a couple of months after the alleged rape, decided to represent himself in his trial, saying he felt prosecutors were trying to “force” him into making a plea deal.
The trial is expected to wrap up Thursday.
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