Jury selection begins in Lynn gang rape trial

SALEM – Five jurors have been selected in the trial of four men accused of raping a Salem High School student in Lynn after an English High School basketball game in 2008.Rafael Brito, 22, Luis Arias, 22, and Justin Louf, 21, all of Salem are on trial for aggravated rape after allegedly gang-raping a 17-year-old Salem girl on Feb. 15, 2008 when they were supposed to be giving her a ride home from a friend?s house following the game, according to an arrest report.Instead, the report said, they drove to a Lynn apartment belonging to one of the men?s parents, where they raped her and called her derogatory names, according to the report.A fourth man, Harold Baltodano, 22, of Lynn, is also accused of participating in the rape, but will have a separate trial because his lawyer is participating in a trial in Middlesex County, said William Martin, Brito?s attorney.After the assault, the men allegedly drove the girl back to her friend?s house in Lynn where she fell asleep, according to a report. A few hours later, the victim told police she noticed blood all over her pants and called another friend to take her to a hospital, where doctors performed a rape kit, the report said.Louf?s attorney James Tewhey said the trial has been delayed for nearly four years because the state?s crime lab took “a significant amount of time” to produce DNA results necessary for the case. Scheduling conflicts between the four lawyers also contributed to the delay, Tewhey said.Justice John Lu said he expected the trial to last about 10 full days, but the defense attorneys expected to be finished by March 27. If not, the trial will be suspended from March 28 until April 2 due to a scheduling conflict, Lu said.Throughout the day, numerous members of the jury pool told the judge they might have trouble being impartial to a case involving three Hispanic or mixed race defendants and an African American alleged victim.Of 54 potential jurors called, the lawyers agreed upon only five, and Lu said he would call in a new jury pool when selection continues This morning. Martin said it is not unusual for jury selection to take two full days in superior court cases, but Lu told the selected jurors to return to court Tuesday at 2 p.m. for opening statements.The men face up to 20 years in state prison if convicted of the charge, according to an earlier Item report.Taylor Provost can be reached at [email protected].