Man linked through DNA to 2012 sexual assault is convicted

A Jackson County jury on Thursday convicted a 31-year-old man whose DNA linked him to a 2012 rape of a woman near 33rd Street and Southwest Trafficway.

The defendant, Justin Simon of Kansas City, was found guilty of rape, sodomy and second-degree robbery in the June 2012 attack, according to prosecutors.

Authorities said Simon and another man offered to give a woman a ride home after she left a bar. The men walked the woman to an apartment building, where their vehicle was parked. There, Simon punched the woman and took her into an apartment, where both men sexually assaulted her.

Simon is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 9.