The trial of a former Gallup paramedic charged in a rape of an 11-year-old boy in an Albuquerque arroyo now is in the hands of a jury.
Closing arguments were held Tuesday in the trail of Genaro Sandoval. Jurors are expected to begin deliberations Wednesday morning.
Prosecutors claim the 39-year-old Sandoval was linked to the 2003 rape through DNA sample later submitted in an FBI database after he pleaded guilty to child exploitation in 2007.
But Sandoval's defense attorneys say the Albuquerque Police Department's evidence room was rocked by a scandal of mismanagement and lost evidence that might have tainted the DNA.
Sandoval is separately charged with molesting five other boys in arroyos, although jurors weren't allowed to hear about those cases.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.