Prosecutors point to DNA in second day of DeKalb man’s rape, home invasion trial

SYCAMORE – Prosecutors presented a jury with police forensic testimony Wednesday they said shows that DNA evidence collected from Robert D. Gaillard proves he attacked two victims with a gun on a snowy January 2021 morning, beating a man and raping a woman in front of her children.

The state and defense rested their cases during day two of the trial of Gaillard, 29, of the 900 block of Regent Drive. Twenty-third Circuit Court Judge Marcy Buick presided. Gaillard is charged with home invasion, armed robbery and aggravated criminal sexual assault, all Class X felonies, and resisting a police officer in a Jan. 19, 2021 attack inside an apartment in the 800 block of Spiros Court. If convicted, he faces up to 30 years or life in jail and fines up to $250,000.

Forensic police experts testified in front of a socially distanced jury Wednesday at the DeKalb County Courthouse that Gaillard’s DNA was found in two places on a loaded Stoeger 9mm handgun prosecutors said was used to bludgeon a 27-year-old DeKalb man while two young children slept inside the apartment.

Gaillard also is accused of pointing the gun at a woman inside the apartment and forcing her to perform oral sex on him. Both victims’ DNA also was found on the gun, according to forensic expert testimony provided by the Illinois State Police.

DeKalb County State’s Attorney Rick Amato and Assistant State’s Attorney Suzanne Collins led the prosecution. When asked by Collins whether victims of sexual violence might not report an assault right away, emergency department nurse Jessalin Volmer – who performed a sexual assault exam at Northwestern Medicine Kishwaukee Hospital on a DeKalb woman about 12 hours after she said she was raped – testified that trauma impacts decisions.

“They’re unable to recall certain events or events in the order that they occurred,” Volmer said. “Your body just tries to survive.”

The woman’s DNA also was identified on a buccal swab taken as evidence from Gaillard’s genitals. Gaillard denied the rape in an interview with DeKalb police detectives hours after the attack.

Prosecutors argued DNA evidence proves Gaillard sexually assaulted the woman, corroborating her emotional Tuesday testimony when she told jurors Gaillard fondled her, forced her to take off her pants and raped her while her young children were in the room.

Gaillard’s defense attorney, Sycamore-based lawyer Brian Erwin, argued Wednesday that there wasn’t enough evidence to support that claim.

The jury was shown a 45-minute recording of an interview DeKalb Police Det. Rey Hernandez, who worked as lead on the investigation, held with Gaillard. Hernandez interviewed Gaillard the day of the attack, hours after Gaillard returned from the hospital with two broken ankles he sustained jumping from a balcony to a story below while attempting to flee from police.

During the interview, Gaillard told Hernandez he’d attacked one victim, a 27-year-old DeKalb man the Daily Chronicle has identified as D.C., in retaliation for an incident earlier in the evening. During that incident two sisters – Alexis S. Mackey, 25, and Brianna P. Mackey, 26, of DeKalb – were involved in a fight with a gun in a parking lot about 20 minutes before the Spiros Court attack. The Mackeys both are facing charges from that incident, although they were not present for the Spiros Court attack. Gaillard said he’s dating Brianna Mackey and that the girl’s sister, Alexis Mackey, was an ex-girlfriend of D.C.

Brianna Mackey is accused of firing a gun during the parking lot fight. Police have alleged it’s the same gun used in the attack by Gaillard. A fourth person, Awaan Woods, 26, who lived with Gaillard, is accused of participating in the armed robbery and attack on Spiros Court.

Erwin called both Mackey sisters to testify Wednesday, although their time on the witness stand was brief.

“Some girls jumped on my girl,” Gaillard told Hernandez in the Jan. 19, 2021 interview. “I said, ‘You don’t do my girl and her sister like that.’ ”

When asked by Hernandez whether he’d attacked anyone else in the home, including the woman victim, Gaillard denied any wrongdoing to the detective several times in the January 2021 interview.

“What I’m looking for is honesty and truth on your end,” Hernandez told Gaillard in 2021.

“Why would I do that if there’s kids in there?” Gaillard said in reply during the 2021 interview. “I don’t know who the [expletive] she is. I don’t. I don’t.” He then told Hernandez R.L.’s name, and said he took her phone, according to the recording.

Police used DNA evidence collected from the gun, R.L.’s shorts, both victims and Gaillard to create a narrative that prosecutors said put the gun in Gaillard’s hands and shows he used it to beat D.C. and then sexually assaulted the woman.

Erwin grilled those who took the witness stand Wednesday – largely law enforcement, including detectives, state forensic experts and patrol officers – about the nature of their evidence collection. He asked them how it was collected, where it was taken and what the results could mean.

On Thursday, the jury is expected to begin deliberations on a verdict, with closing statements set to begin at 9:15 a.m. Gaillard, who’s been held without bond at DeKalb County Jail since his January 2021 arrest, declined to testify Wednesday.