A Virginia convict, nailed for a lower East Side rape nearly 20 years later thanks to DNA evidence was sentenced to the maximum prison time on Wednesday. Hit the jump to read the rest of the story.
@WiL

Alberto Barriera, 47, grumbled and shifted in his handcuffs but said nothing as a Manhattan judge piled a 20-year sentence on top of the seven years he faces for a drug conviction in the southern state.

Last year, Barriera’s DNA was linked to the December 1993 choking rape of a then 16-year-old as she returned to her Eldridge St. apartment.

The DNA hit that unmasked him came not from New York – where Barriera has a long criminal history, but where DNA collection laws are weak – but from Virginia, after his conviction there, prosecutor Marsha Bashford said.

But, before Barriera’s identify was known, his DNA profile was indicted in 2003 after the victim testified before a grand jury. Her account came three weeks before a 10-year statute of limitations hit.
DN