Trial date set for Wellington man accused of brutal rape

PRICE — A two-day jury trial has been set for a Carbon County man accused of kicking in the front door of a woman's apartment in January and raping her at knife point.

Dwaine Stacey Shaw, 22, of Wellington, is charged with rape, forcible sodomy, aggravated sexual assault, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated robbery and aggravated burglary. The charges are all first-degree felonies.

Shaw is scheduled to stand trial Oct. 29-30.

Investigators say Shaw was wearing a clown mask and brandishing a knife when he kicked in the front door of an apartment on Jan. 13 at 3 a.m. He threatened the 20-year-old woman inside with the knife while he raped her, then fled the apartment, according to Wellington Police Chief Lee Barry.

The woman contacted police immediately and officers were able to collect forensic evidence. They suspected Shaw was involved in the attack, Barry said, and obtained a court order that allowed them to draw his blood.

Then, they waited nearly four months for the Utah State Crime Lab to process the DNA, which identified Shaw as the person who committed the rape, Barry said.

The chief isn't critical of the crime lab or its work; he said he's just frustrated that state lawmakers aren't providing the lab with the funding it needs.

"(Shaw's arrest) was an arrest that could have happened several months earlier if there wasn't a backlog at our state crime lab," Barry said after Shaw was taken into custody in May.

Shaw remains in the Carbon County Jail.

— Geoff Liesik

Twitter: GeoffLiesik