Victim Describes Attack in Jesse Matthew Trial: Reports

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Image: Jesse Matthew (Fairfax County Police Department)

The victim of a 2005 sexual assault in Fairfax City testified in court Monday about how she fought her attacker, according to media reports.

The testimony from the victim, a woman from India, came during the opening day of the trial of Jesse Matthew, who is accused of attacking the woman as she walked home from a local grocery store, WTTG-TV Channel 5 reported. She escaped when a bystander intervened.

Matthew, 33, faces charges of attempted capital murder, abduction with attempt to defile, and sexual penetration with an object. The maximum penalty is three life sentences. Matthew has pleaded not guilty.

He also faces the death penalty in a separate case, the killing last fall of a student at the Universite of Virginia.

On Monday, a jury of 12 and two alternates was selected for Matthew’s trial in the Fairfax Circuit Court. Seven men and seven women were chosen, WUSA-TV Channel 9 reported. Judge David Schell said the trial at the courthouse in Fairfax City could run through next week.

Matthew has been linked by DNA evidence to the disappearance last fall of Hannah Graham, a University of Virginia student. Graham vanished in September, and her remains were found about five weeks later.

In the Graham case, Matthew faces charges in Albemarle County of capital murder, first-degree murder and abduction with intent to defile. A trial has not been scheduled in that case.