Rapist Who Acted As His Own Lawyer Found Guilty

Serial rapist John Hamlett's strategy to act as his own lawyer and cross-examine one of his victims has backfired, surprising no one except Hamlett himself. The Daily News reports that he "shook his head in disbelief" when a jury found him guilty yesterday on all 12 counts of sexual abuse, criminal sexual acts, robbery, burglary, and criminal impersonation of a police officer. In 2006, Hamlett broke into the same building on East Third Street and Avenue B three times. On the first visit, he pushed into a woman's apartment with a 10-inch knife and sexually assaulted her. Thirteen days later, he climbed through the fire-escape window into an empty apartment and stole a checkbook, returning days later and identifying himself to the female resident as a detective who had found her checkbook. During the trial, the distraught victim was forced to relive the assault by submitting to Hamlett's cross-examination; he now faces up to 165 years in prison, according to the Post.