Trial for abduction, sexual assault suspect underway
EUGENE, Ore.--Malcolm Michael Gerlach admits to abducting a 10-year-old girl in her Santa Clara neighborhood and sexually assaulting her before police found them - but he says he was insane when he committed the crimes.
Jury selection in Gerlach's trial started in Lane County Circuit court on Tuesday. Prosecutor Erik Hasselman and defense attorney Rebecca Davis spent the entire day questioning jurors.
KVAL News requested to cover this trial with our cameras, but our request was denied.
According to Lane County Sheriff's deputies, Gerlach kidnapped the young girl in January 2009, knocking her off her bike with a stolen car. Neighbors heard her screams and tried to catch them, but were unable to stop Gerlach. They called police, who located the stolen vehicle. Gerlach didn't stop, leading police on a chase into rural Lane County before crashing the car with the girl inside.
Although he had the girl for less than one hour - just 58 minutes- he assaulted her. It's a unique case becaues the jury is not tasked with determining Gerlach's guilt. The California man admits committing all the crimes. Instead, the jury will decide if Gerlach was insane at the time and unable to determine his actions were wrong or prevent himself from doing the criminal acts.
Gerlach is facing twelve counts, including assault, kidnapping, rape, sexual abuse and attempting to elude police with a vehicle.
