WILDWOOD — A South Jersey man cannot be tried on rape charges after DNA evidence found on the woman’s body went unidentified for more than 30 years, an appeals court has ruled.
Jerry Rosado of Millville In April 2022, he was accused of sexually assaulting Susan Negersmith, a woman from New York who was killed while visiting Wildwood in May 1990.
Authorities said DNA evidence found on the 20-year-old’s body was not linked to Rosado until June 2021. He was charged after further investigation in April 2022.
Why Jerry Rosado won’t stand trial for raping Susan Negersmith
But on March 29, a three-judge panel ruled that a 1990 statute of limitations required prosecutions to begin within five years of the sexual assault.
The court ordered the judge to dismiss the criminal case against Rasad.
The complaint alleged that Rosado had sex with Negersmith when he knew or should have known she was “physically incapacitated by alcohol.”
The charge must be dismissed with prejudice, meaning it cannot be brought against Rosado in the future.
The Cape May County District Attorney’s Office could not immediately be reached for comment on the decision.
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Why was the previous ruling canceled?
Earlier, the trial judge rejected an argument by Rosado’s public defender that the 2002 statute of limitations amendment did not apply to his case.
According to the appeals court’s ruling, the change states that the statute of limitations begins only when authorities have both the physical evidence and the DNA or fingerprints needed to identify a suspect.
It notes that the 2002 amendment lacked wording that it was supposed to be retroactive.
The Legislature instead “declared that the amendment ‘takes effect immediately,'” the ruling noted.
Police collected DNA samples after Negersmith’s body was found partially disrobed outside the restaurant.
Rasada became a person of interest after the lab used genetic genealogical analysis to develop a panel of potential suspects in 2018, the ruling said.
An autopsy initially ruled the death accidental, but in 1996 that finding was changed to homicide.
No one has been charged in Negersmith’s murder.
Jim Walsh is a senior reporter for the Courier-Post, Burlington County Times and The Daily Journal.
