A Dallas jury found a Dallas man, identified by DNA evidence, guilty of the aggravated sexual assault of a child, Wednesday.
After one day of testimony the jury found 43-year-old Robert Warterfield guilty of breaking into a home, taking a 7-year-old girl from her bedroom and sexually assaulting her before letting her return home.
DNA evidence led police to Warterfield, who is a repeat sex offender, but only after DNA cleared another man, Stephen Brodie, who was wrongfully convicted of the crime 20 years ago.
Fingerprints outside the 7-year-old girl's home didn't match Brodie, but they do match Warterfield according to police.
Brodie, who is deaf, said he was interrogated for 19 hours and forced to confess to the crime. He e was exonerated and released from prison in 2010 and Warterfield was arrested and charged with sexual assault.
Police say they believe Warterfield may be the “North Dallas Rapist” who terrorized and sexually assaulted girls 7 to 19 years old in the 1980s and 1990s.
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The Dallas Morning News reports jurors probably won't hear about the other crimes until the punishment phase which started and will continue Thursday.
Warterfield could be sentenced to life in prison.
