A 45-year-old Macon man was convicted Thursday of raping a nanny at her employer’s home and was sentenced to four life sentences, plus 20 years.
Jurors began deliberations Wednesday and returned their verdict Thursday morning in Bibb County Superior Court, finding Rudolph Valentino Smith guilty of rape, kidnapping, aggravated sexual battery, aggravated sodomy and burglary.
The woman who employed the nanny at the time of the 2008 rape spoke at Smith’s sentencing hearing and asked that he be given the maximum sentence. The woman’s daughter, who was 3 at the time, was at the north Bibb County house during the May 1, 2008, attack.
“You are going away. You will never hurt anyone again,” the woman told Smith at the hearing.
He replied, “That’s what you think.”
Courtroom security officials quickly crowded around Smith after his response. He was already wearing a shock belt as a security precaution.
Smith was first tried on the charges in February 2010, but the case ended in a mistrial after jurors failed to reach a unanimous verdict.
During the first trial, Smith was ushered out of the courtroom at the end of his testimony as he yelled profanity, proclaimed his innocence and blamed “white people with money” for the allegations against him.
Wednesday, Smith initially said he wanted to testify as the only witness in his defense, but he changed his mind after being warned that angry outbursts wouldn’t be tolerated.
DNA evidence presented this week, not introduced at the first trial, linked Smith or a direct male relative to intimate contact with the nanny.
“There is no explanation for the DNA ... other than the guilt of the defendant,” said prosecutor Nancy Scott Malcor in her closing argument to the jury Wednesday.
Defense attorney Nathanial Studelska contended that there was a lack of evidence in the case.
Prior to the 2008 rape, Smith had been convicted of six felonies dating back to 1986. The crimes ranged from robbery to voluntary manslaughter, according to the Georgia Department of Corrections.
Information from The Telegraph archives was used in this report. To contact writer Amy Leigh Womack, call 744-4398.
