JURY GETS EVIDENCE IN VIOLENT 1995 RAPE March 7, 2008 A Suffolk Superior Court jury has begun weighing the evidence in the case of a former boxer charged with violently raping a 50-year-old woman in her Jamaica Plain home more than a dozen years ago. Jurors in the trial of CHE BLAKE SOSA, 38 (D.O.B. 7/22/69), heard closing arguments this morning in which First Assistant District Attorney Josh Wall urged them to scrutinize the evidence that led investigators to the defendant – his DNA, found on the victim’s underwear and bed sheets in the aftermath of the Aug. 22, 1995, attack. “Let’s go right to the evidence that proves this defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt,” Wall said. “Let’s go right to the DNA. You know that if Che Blake Sosa’s DNA is in [the victim’s] underwear and on that sheet, he’s guilty.” Biological evidence was recovered from the victim’s undergarments shortly after she called police and was taken to an area hospital. Additional evidence was recovered from the sheets of her bed, where the attack took place. Because DNA was not commonly used in Massachusetts courts at the time, those items were delivered to the Boston Police Crime Laboratory and stored under laboratory conditions until 2003, when they were analyzed as part of a scientific examination of unsolved rapes. Boston Police criminalists developed DNA profiles of the semen stains on the victim’s clothing and bedding. Each profile matched the others. When those identical profiles were submitted to the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System database, they matched the profile of a known offender – Che Sosa, charged with an unrelated offense in Norfolk County. To confirm their findings, investigators obtained a second sample of Soda’s DNA in an oral swab and checked it against the crime scene evidence. It, too, was a match. “Sperm from the underwear,” Wall said. “Sperm from the stain on one sheet sperm from the stain on the second sheet, the swab from the mouth of Che Sosa – it’s the same. It’s identical.” After closing arguments, Judge Christine McEvoy instructed jurors on the relevant law and the elements of aggravated rape. Sosa is charged with two counts of that offense. Jurors deliberated for a short time this afternoon and went home for the weekend. They will return to courtroom 808 of the Suffolk County Courthouse on Monday morning. Sosa was represented at trial by attorney Joseph Krowski. Return to the Press Releases page.