Jury selection begins in Bibb nanny rape trial

Jury selection began Monday afternoon in the case of a 44-year-old man accused of raping a nanny in north Bibb County in 2008.

Rudolph Valentino Smith is charged with rape, aggravated sodomy, aggravated sexual battery, kidnapping and burglary. Smith was working as a home cleaning company employee at the time of the alleged rape.

The case helped prompt a bill that’s still pending in the state Legislature that would require employers to perform background checks on people who work inside other people’s homes. The bill also would ban some criminals from jobs that would send them into homes unless their civil rights had been restored.

Before the rape charges, Smith had been convicted of six felonies since 1986 ranging from robbery to voluntary manslaughter, according to the Georgia Department of Corrections.

Opening statements are scheduled to begin today.