One of the few instances where our justice system could learn something from Sharia law.
Testimony began Tuesday in the trial of an Augusta man accused of robbing and raping an elderly woman last winter.
Michael C. Blocker, 35, has pleaded not guilty in Richmond County Superior Court. His trial will continue today.
On Tuesday morning, a 75-year-old woman told the jury what happened to her the morning of Jan. 9, 2007, when she returned to her Walton Way home after walking her dog.
It was about 5 a.m. when her puppy woke her. She was trying to house-break the new dog and took it outside. When she returned to her condo, a large man was inside. "I said, 'Oh, no,' " when she saw him, she said.
She said she thought she was going to die. She gave him all of her cash, then tried to give him her credit cards, but he didn't want them. She gave him all of her jewelry. The cancer patient with one lung testified that she was terrified of the man.
"I must have said 50 times, 'Please don't kill me.' I just tried to do everything he said so he wouldn't kill me ... I just wanted it over as soon as possible," she said.
She said the assailant raped her before leaving.
The woman's stolen jewelry included a couple of unique pieces that authorities say led investigators to Mr. Blocker.
Assistant District Attorney Al Corey told the jury in his opening statement that witnesses will tie Mr. Blocker to the woman's pawned jewelry.
When Mr. Blocker was arrested, authorities say, an officer found the woman's pin with her granddaughter's baby picture in his pants pocket.
Mr. Blocker's attorney, Hugh Hadden of the public defender's office, asked the jurors to start the case with a blank slate.
The jury heard Mr. Blocker's taped statement to investigators. He told the detectives that he wanted to apologize to the victim, but he didn't remember any sexual contact with the woman.
The prosecutor told the jury that DNA evidence will link Mr. Blocker to the rape.
Reach Sandy Hodson at (706) 823-3226 or sandy.hodson@augustachronicle.com.
Comments
One of the few instances where our justice system could learn something from Sharia law.
You're right wiskydick!
Block-off the 600 block of Broad St. & call a crowd. A public hanging would quell this animalistic behavior in a heartbeat. One thing folks of this ilk are afraid of is ... dying. Make an example of this "bro," send him to hell where he deserves to go. Hey I'm a poet & didn't know it.
I really hope this piece of scum gets raped in jail just like he raped this poor woman.
tdp, if they put him in the general population of the jail (hopefully while waiting to hook him up to GA power) chances are great he will be raped- more than once. I feel so for this victim. I am so glad she came forward- a lot of rape victims do not. I agree with pofwe, making punishment a public event should be a deterrent and also a message that we will not put up with this type of behavior. An "apology" from the perpitrator is not worth him spitting out the lie. She will have to live with it the rest of her life. I will keep her in my prayers and hope that justice will prevail in Augusta QUICKLY, for a change.
I hope the brave woman in the story reads this. You are a TRUE SURVIVOR and my prayers are with you. Thank you for being such a strong person and going forward in helping the system prosecute this criminal.
Justus, what do you mean lazy police work? They responded to the initial call, gathered information, interviewed people, searched for suspects, made an arrest, gathered evidence from different pawn shops, had DNA testing done, now are in the process of testifying in court to put this scumbag away for life. I see no laziness. This dude is probably your dad or your brother and you would be the only one on the jury to find him not guilty. Get a life loser. Afterall, it's even hard for a defense attorney to work a case when he hasnt got one. And let me guess, uh your an african american who has never been to africa before, and has no relatives from africa, thus making you just a black american that is disgruntled because you think the white man owes you something. Afterall, youre not a scape goat if you are GUILTY!!!
Let him steal more chain than he can swim the river with.
Thank you mastersmoney! This is typical BS from Justus4.
It may be that he robbed the lady but I doubt he rapped her. She is 75 years old. He could have gotten the old jewelry from someone who really did the robbery and didn't have use for the pieces found on the defendant. It is so possible that it was dropped and found. DO MORE INVESIGATION, PLEASE!
He admitted to the robbery. Just because the woman is 75 does not mean she wasn't raped. Rape is about power, control, and sometimes hate- not about attraction. This mans behavior will only get more violent if he gets off. Get real concerned4 his DNA was recovered from the woman, what more do you want?
My son told me about an 18 yr old raped his 8 yr old stepsister.The 18 yr old's mom bailed him out of jail, and her husband (8 yr old's father) took the call that the 18 yr old could be picked up. He picked his stepson up and drove him to an abandoned house,tied him up, beat him, then raped him with a metal pipe to make him know how it feels, then left him there. He got loose, called police, and now the girls dad is charged with sodomy.
concerned4,dna does not lie.
The assumption that rape victims must all be young and beautiful is incorrect. Having worked in Rape Crises (and been a victim myself), I can tell you that we've had survivors of EVERY age (and sex) who've been sexually assaulted.
The woman said she was raped. She was raped. As previous mentioned, rape is not about sexual attraction but power and control. And as previously mentioned, DNA evidence was recovered from the victim. Care to explain how his semen got there?
Rose i heard about that too the girls father knew he would just get a slap on the wrist he did the right thing take the law into your hands........more justice is done that-away:) i would of shot him in his .... afterwards and let him suffer:)
lea n to spel concerned4, jeez, that's awfool
I would like to address the comment made by pofwe. It is a sad day when a 75 year old woman is raped by anyone. It is a tragic day when people like you are allowed to publicly display such blatant hate for black people. You have the nerve to call someone else animalistic. You are a prejudice beast. I would never take the side of a rapist whether he is black or white.I am a woman and I cannot imagine what this poor woman is going through, but comments like yours should not be allowed. It is 2008 not 1950.
Well I guess Justus4 and Concerned4 can keep their comments to theirselves now. It was just reported that Mr. Blocker plead guilty and has been given a life sentence for the rape without the possibility of parole.
I wonder why nbc is the only one doing the story. On the evans teen who raped his great aunt. He is only 16 years old and raped his own aunt. Pretty disgusting. The evans chronicle is more worried about. Portraying negative images with richmond county than columbia county. As usual
Justus4......Haven't heard from you since the perp you declared innocent ADMITTED to this horrific crime. What do you have to say now? Nothing? That's what I thought. I relish the thought that this piece of s*** is going to get what is coming to him in prison. Now that is justice!
and once more i say, "you can take them out of the jungle.............."
Justice was done. Let's not make this PETTY by tryintg to rub it in. The verdict does ALL the talking. Justus4 has made good points before, he just happens to be TOTALLY wrong on this one.
ghtty, what do you mean you can take them out of the jungle. Who the Hell told you we where from the jungle. Just because someone of our race did what he did doesn't make us all like that. Ghtty, you are a SOB that needs to be educated, because you sould like your vocabulary is of very few words. What this man did was wrong, and he'll answer to God, and my prayers are with this lady, who is someone's grandmother, mother, sister, aunt, and friend. Thanks God she lived to tell her part. Now ghtty next time you want to say something stupid like that again think before you speak, because God is of higher power, NOT GHTTY.
This is to address the comment made by ghtty. I don't know what
you meant when youe said that You can take them out of the jungle? I hope that you really did not mean what I think that you did!! If you are referring to black people then you are a prejudice fool. Let's not start on the stud things that white people have done that has topped the news lately. You think that the color of that man's skin caused him to do what he did?? You are a complete idiot!!!!! How many black serial killers do you know???
I am not usuall a racist person, but people like you make me dislike white people!!!!!!
Can't we forget about race for once. If the guy is found guility of raping the 75 year old lady, punish him accoring to the law--period!Let us go back in history and read how many poor innocent black women were raped and salvagely beaten. These men were some of the finest from the white race . Were they called animalistic or salvages? No! They were rich and powerful white men of their day and they had thousand0f mulatto children. It got so bad where white men desired black women more than their own women, and the white women became jealous and took it out opn the black women. Read! Read! Read the history--It is right there if you would read it.
I really don't understand why someone has to bring up race on every single story. It doesn't matter what color the victims or the criminals are! There are white & black victims just as there are black & white criminals. And serial killers can be either race. I can provide examples of both black & white serial killers. Hell, a black serial killer terrorized the LSU campus when I was a student there a few years back. It's reaaly not about race, though. It's only about getting these dangerous criminals off the street no matter what the color of their skin.
Blacks, Whites, Yellow and Greens, maybe purples too, rape Don't give a crap what color they are--off them!!
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