71-year-old woman testifies against her alleged attacker

<p>A 71-year-old Santa Rosa woman testified Wednesday that she was awakened in the middle of the night by a thumping sound she thought was her cats and found a masked man standing on the staircase to her bedroom.</p><p>The woman, identified in court as Jane Doe to protect her identity, said the man forced her back into her room at about 1 a.m. on April 3, 2008 and struggled to rape her.</p><p>At one point, the man whom prosecutors identified as Michael Korell, 49 of Santa Rosa, slapped the woman and told her “it's either going to happen or he would beat me up,” the victim testified.</p><p>But Korell could not get an erection. After she refused to give him oral sex, he fondled her before fleeing the house, prosecutors said.</p><p>“I didn't want to die and I didn't want to be raped," said the woman as Korell looked on from across the courtroom, his two distinctive devil horn tattoos visible on his forehead.</p><p>Open arguments and witness testimony in the trial began Wednesday before Judge Gary Medvigy. Korell is accused of two felony counts: attempted rape and oral copulation during the commission of a burglary, and a burglary charge that combined with enhancements could bring a life sentence upon conviction.</p><p>Prosecutor Jason Riehl said Korell was linked to the attack by DNA. Weeks before the assault he had been to the victim's Wilfred Avenue home with two other men seeking scrap metal, Riehl said.</p><p>A search of Korell's trailer 3.5 miles away from the victim's house turned up gloves and a thick jacket described by the victim that made detectives suspicious, Riehl said.</p><p>Korell is also suspected in a 1995 sexual assault in Santa Rosa in which a similar approach was used, Riehl said. In that incident the attacker sought oral sex and slapped the woman on the face, Riehl said.</p><p>Fingerprints on a pornographic magazine and DNA linked Korell to the old assault, Riehl said, but he has not been charged in that alleged crime.</p><p>In her opening arguments Wednesday, defense attorney Judy Conry urged the nine-woman, three-man jury to keep an open mind. The trial continues Thursday.</p>