A Baltimore police officer standing trial on charges of raping a woman while searching her home for a suspect took the witness stand yesterday to deny even touching his accuser.
In his testimony, Officer George S. Cannida III also denied another of the woman's charges -- that he made lewd statements and gestures while booking her on an auto theft charge eight days before the alleged rape.
The policeman also explained why his fingerprint was on a condom wrapper found in the woman's Northeast Baltimore home; the woman says the officer wore the condom while raping her.
The print, said Officer Cannida, was left after he picked up the wrapper and confronted the woman about her claims that she had not seen her boyfriend, who was wanted as a suspected car thief. "I asked her if her boyfriend is not here, then what is this? She became defensive," Officer Cannida testified.
Asked directly whether he raped his accuser, the 23-year-old officer replied, "No, I didn't."
Defense attorney Henry L. Belsky has said the woman's rape accusation was in retaliation for Officer Cannida's attempt to lock up her boyfriend and because he had previously arrested her and, in an unrelated matter, her ex-husband.
Testimony in the trial, before Baltimore Circuit Judge Clifton J. Gordy, is expected to end today.
Officer Cannida was called as the first defense witness after prosecutors rested their case against him yesterday. During four days of testimony, prosecutors based their case on the fingerprint, on the 27-year-old woman's allegations, on testimony from others in the Hollander Ridge neighborhood who said she told them she'd been raped, and on a semen stain found on the policeman's underwear.
Officer Cannida has been suspended from duty since July, when a city grand jury indicted him on charges of second-degree rape, assault with intent to rape, third- and fourth-degree sex offenses and assault. Under departmental regulations, Officer Cannida, on duty for one year before his suspension, would be fired automatically if convicted of the felony charges, police said.
Wearing a suit and tie, the officer leaned forward in the witness box and answered questions in a steady voice. He testified for an hour and 15 minutes yesterday and is to return to the stand when court reconvenes this morning.
In his testimony yesterday, Officer Cannida said his connection to the rape case started with a stolen auto investigation.
According to Mr. Cannida, a car full of teens was stopped when his sergeant noticed dead bugs found on a car's rear license plate. The bugs showed the tags or the car were probably stolen, he said, because the insects should have been on a car's front plate.
The teen-agers said they had rented the auto from Floyd Baker, the accuser's boyfriend.
When he tried to arrest Mr. Baker, the boyfriend punched him and fled. The policeman then arrested the woman on auto theft charges. Earlier in the trial, the woman testified that Officer Cannida exposed himself to her at the Northeastern District police station after the arrest.
Yesterday, Mr. Belsky, the defense attorney, asked his client, "At any time did you drop your pants?"
Officer Cannida answered: "No, I didn't. It's not standard procedure to drop our pants or undo our uniform. We have a locker room area for that purpose."