Raynard Coleman (MUG SHOT): Ex-Convict Arraigned in 5 Detroit Rapes This Month
DETROIT (CBS/WWJ/AP) Raynard Coleman, a 31-year-old Michigan man paroled in 2009 after more than 10 years in prison for attempted murder, was charged Monday with kidnapping and raping five women in Detroit in a series of sexual assaults that began on New Year's Day.
Not guilty pleas were entered for the defendant, and Coleman's lawyer said he fears prison may have turned his client into a "monster."
When Coleman was paroled in 2009, at age 29, he had spent about half his life in custody.
"You take a boy, you find him guilty and stick him in the belly of the beast, you create a monster," lawyer James Galen Jr. said outside court after Coleman was arraigned on more than 30 charges.
According to CBS affiliate WWJ, Coleman was silent as he participated via video from a police lockup. He was denied bail after the not guilty pleas were entered.
Detroit Police Chief Ralph Godbee told the station that scientific evidence was critical in charging Coleman with assaults on the east and northeast parts of the city, about five miles from downtown.
Coleman has been charged in five of seven rapes reported since Jan. 1. He also was charged with attempted rape in a related attack. In most cases, the women were walking in darkness to or from a bus stop; police say one got out of her car after it was bumped by Coleman.
Galen said police swabbed Coleman's mouth last week for DNA. According to WWJ, investigators say they have DNA evidence linking his client to the attacks.