DNA test confirms guilt in attack on nun

Thursday, October 1, 2009 | 8:21 a.m. CDT; updated 9:12 a.m. CDT, Thursday, October 1, 2009
BY The Associated Press

KANSAS CITY — A man who demanded a DNA test that he said would prove he was innocent in a sexual assault on a Catholic nun has instead been proven guilty by the test.

Jackson County prosecutors received results of the test this week, and say it confirms that Jerry J. Owens assaulted the nun on May 6, 1997, at the Holy Rosary convent in Kansas City.

Prosecutors say they will seek sanctions against the 52-year-old Owens for filing the "frivolous" motion.

Owens is serving a life sentence plus 60 years for the crime. He was convicted in 1998 of forcible sodomy, attempted forcible rape, sexual abuse, first-degree assault, first-degree burglary and armed criminal action.

Owens filed a motion last September seeking DNA testing of evidence from the crime scene. Despite prosecutors' objections, in November a judge granted Owens' request.

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