The second trial for a 54-year-old Janesville man accused of sexually assaulting an elderly Janesville woman nearly two decades ago gets underway this week.
Baxter’s first trial on charges of second degree sexual assault and burglary ended in a mistrial with a deadlock jury in February.
Baxter was linked to the rape that took place in 2000 after the state crime lab matched his DNA to blood stains found on the victim’s sheets.
The prosecution plans to admit new evidence, which includes further blood testing of the bed sheets that first implicated Baxter in the crime.
Baxter told police that around that time of the rape he had cut wood for the woman in her basement and accidentally hit his head and bled on a set of sheets that was hanging to dry.
