DENVER — Jurors deliberated for just one hour before convicting a man of sexual assault and kidnapping related to an incident that happened 25 years ago, according to the Denver District Attorney's Office.
Troy Fields, now 51, was found guilty of two counts of second-degree kidnapping and two counts of sexual assault in the first degree.
A DNA match from the victim's rape kit identified Fields as her attacker when it was put into the CODIS database in May 2016. The DA filed charges against Fields in March 2017.
“I want to commend the excellent work of the Denver Police Department’s Cold Case Unit and Crime Lab personnel as well as the attorneys and staff of the Denver DA’s Office for their relentless and dogged determination to hold this offender accountable even after all these years,” said Denver District Attorney Beth McCann.
The victim came home on Feb. 9, 1994, and as she opened her front door, Fields immediately grabbed her and pulled her into the house, according to prosecutors.
He had been hiding behind her front door. She tried to scream for help, but Fields covered her mouth and threatened her with a knife and sexually assaulted her.
Fields cut her landline phone cord and then tied her up and forced her into a bedroom closet where she was told to stay or be killed.
He then demanded that she give him her money and credit cards.
Due to the expired statute of limitations, the DA was unable to charge him with burglary in this case, however in 1994 Fields was charged, tried and convicted in another Denver home burglary that happened five days before the victim was attacked.
In that case, he was convicted as a habitual criminal and sentenced to 60 years in prison.
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