A judge on Friday found a man guilty of assaulting seven women in separate incidents last year near Rittenhouse Square, in a string of attacks prosecutors called “remarkably similar” that left the women shocked and scared.
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Dynel Walker, 38, was found guilty of more than a dozen crimes tied to the incidents, spanning from indecent assault to forcible compulsion, harassment, simple assault, and related offenses, Common Pleas Court Judge Nicholas Kamau decided following a two-day trial.
Kamau also acquitted Walker of more than a dozen charges, including unlawful restraint, harassment, and simple assault, among others, finding that prosecutors had not presented sufficient evidence to support them.
Prosecutors said Walker targeted women who were alone and walking in the early morning hours in the Rittenhouse Square area, approaching them on the street before groping them, exposing himself, or masturbating in their presence. In several of the incidents last July and August, Walker followed the women before confronting them. Once, he pushed a woman to the ground when she fought back, prosecutors said.
In one incident, prosecutors said, Walker approached a woman walking her dog near 19th and Spruce Streetsand groped her, then fled.
In another incident, Walker made eye contact with a woman in the 1600 block of Pine Street, then masturbated on the sidewalk while he watched her, prosecutors said.
Walker knocked one woman down as she fought him off, leaving her with minor scrapes on her arms and one leg, prosecutors said.
At least three of the assaults were captured on surveillance video, which showed clear images of Walker wearing a distinct black hooded sweatshirt with a chicken on its front, said Assistant District Attorney Megan Odonnell.
Philadelphia detectives began searching for Walker after screenshots from the surveillance videos were shared with local media and led to an anonymous tip identifying Walker. Detectives later found images on Walker’s cellphone showing him wearing the same hooded sweatshirt as the assailant, prosecutors said. All seven women eventually linked Walker to their assaults through photo arrays.
The women’s identification of Walker became a point of contention for his defense attorney, Ryan Ivins, who argued that the women only picked Walker after images had been widely disseminated by the media, including The Inquirer.
Even then, Ivins said, about half of the women were not completely certain that Walker was the man who had accosted them.
One told police she was 60% sure, Ivins said, while another gave Walker a seven out of 10 chance of being her attacker. That, Ivins argued, “casts significant doubt” on the reliability of the women’s identification of Walker and whether the photo arrays were tainted by the media coverage.
Before rendering his verdict, Kamau also had the opportunity to watch Walker’s initial interview with detectives, in which he acknowledged the images shown in the news were, in fact, of him.
In the video of the interview, Walker also told detectives that he was homeless and often slept in the area of Rittenhouse Square because “I felt safe in that area.” Because of that, Walker said, he wasn’t surprised that surveillance cameras had captured him nearby.
But Walker denied committing the assaults, telling detectives: “I don’t have any involvement in that. … I wouldn’t get any enjoyment from that.”
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Walker is slated to be sentenced by Kamau in November.