Jersey City felon faces up to 40 years in prison for sexual assault
By Michaelangelo Conte/The Jersey Journal
March 30, 2010, 6:13PM

A Jersey City felon faces up to 40 years in prison after his conviction in a 2006 Greenville rape during which he bled on the victim and DNA recovered by detectives led to his arrest, officials said.

"This defendant is a very dangerous character and the jury obviously returned a just verdict," Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio said today about Steven Wright, 26, formally of Whiton Street, who was convicted of aggravated sexual assault and burglary Thursday.

"He is a persistent offender," DeFazio added.

During the trial, the 20-year-old victim testified that she believed her attacker entered her Arlington Avenue home through a window at about 4 a.m. on Nov. 19, 2006 before raping her, Hudson County Deputy First Assistant Prosecutor Debra Simon said.

The victim called police and reported the rape at about 6:30 a.m.

Police found the window broken and the victim's boyfriend testified at trial that it was not broken when he left the apartment, officials said. The rapist was apparently injured as he came through the window and while assaulting the woman he bled on her camisole, Simon said.

The victim recognized her attacker and gave police what she thought was the street name he went by, but the crime remained unsolved until November 2007 when DNA recovered from the rapist's blood matched Wright's DNA profile that was on file in the FBI's database.

A sample of Wright's DNA had been taken after his conviction on a gun offense in 2005, Simon said, adding that when police zeroed in on Wright following the DNA hit, they also found that he used the street name the victim had talked about.

Wright took the stand during the trial and told the jury he knew the victim and that they had consensual sex. Because he testified, Hudson County Assistant Prosecutor Matt Troiano was able to inform the jury that Wright was currently serving a prison term for robbery.

Aggravated sexual assault carries a sentence of 10 to 20 years in prison but because of Wright's prior convictions he is eligible to be sentenced to an extended term of 20 to 40 years, Simon said. He will have to serve 85 percent of the sentence before becoming eligible for parole.

On January 9, 2009 Wright began serving a 10-year-sentence for robbery and he remains in custody.

In 2006 Wright was tried for aggravated assault and found not guilty, DeFazio said. That same year he faced another aggravated assault charge but the grand jury chose not to indict him and the charge was dropped, DeFazio said.

Wright is scheduled for sentencing on June 17 by Superior Court Judge Joseph Isabella.