Judge: Lynn rape suspect ‘a danger to women’

SALEM – A Superior Court judge ruled Wednesday that a Lynn man charged with raping a woman in a church lot is too dangerous to be released.Superior Court Judge John Lu pointed to Jerome Smith’s record of violence against women when he ordered the rape suspect held without bail during a dangerousness hearing in Salem Superior Court.”Smith is a danger to women,” Lu said. “I find no combination of conditions will reasonably protect the women he is a danger to.”Smith, 37, of 75 Broad St., allegedly grabbed a 22-year-old woman in front of St. Joseph’s Rectory at 40 Green St. in Lynn on Sept. 29 and dragged her down a driveway before raping her, according to a police report.Assistant District Attorney Melissa Woodard – reading from police reports – said Smith “approached a complete stranger on the street,” dragged her down a driveway and performed multiple sexual acts on her without her consent.”She didn’t scream, because she was afraid he would do something worse than he was already doing,” Woodard said.Woodard listed off Smith’s criminal history of assault and battery, probation violations and restraining order violations, which she said showed his “disregard for court orders.””His history of violence and escalating behavior shows he is a real danger,” Woodard said.But Smith’s attorney, Christopher Norris, argued that there was no way for the judge to know what actually happened based only on police reports and witness accounts. Smith claims the woman was a prostitute who was willing to engage in sexual activity with him without pay, Norris said Wednesday.Norris used the victim’s Union Hospital records from the night of the incident to argue that her account of the incident and even witness statements could not be credited.”She had no abrasions, no evidence of obvious injury. That seems to cut against what common sense would tell us would appear,” Norris said.He said that the report states the woman did not appear to be in distress, denied any pain and refused a rape kit.Norris argued that there were conditions of release that “could neutralize any danger (Smith) represents.He suggested putting Smith on round-the-clock house arrest at his parents’ home on Broad Street, where he has lived all his life.”It is still early in the investigation and while we recognize the indictments are serious, I don’t think the court can make inferences with respect to the cause,” Norris said.Norris said there are two conflicting narratives of what happened on the night of the alleged rape: the victim’s report that she was raped and Smith’s account that the woman was a willing prostitute.But the judge said it didn’t matter to him whether or not the woman was a prostitute.”(Smith) did either approach an unsuspecting woman and kidnap her and rape her, or he kidnapped, assaulted and possibly raped a person working as a prostitute. It doesn’t make much difference,” Lu said.Smith, wearing a blue prison jumpsuit and sporting a goatee, shook his head slowly as the judge repeated Smith’s criminal history of attacking women.Smith, who was convicted of assault and battery on a female in 1999 and 2005, will remain in the Essex House of Correction until his next court date, which is set for March 7.Taylor Provost may be reached at [email protected].