By Shayna Jacobs
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN SUPREME COURT — A man who allegedly strangled his date to death in his Chinatown apartment killed her to hide the fact that he had raped her, prosecutors said in closing arguments at his trial Friday.
"Rather than face the consequences of having tried to rape her or having raped her, he had decided it was best for him to finish the job," said Assistant District Attorney Joan Illuzzi-Orbon of alleged killer Michael Lenahan, 32.
The prosecutor suggested that it would be "ludicrous" to believe the pretty victim, 24-year-old Lorna Santiago, would have been attracted to Lenahan, who suffered from a birth defect that made him diaper-dependant and caused a malformation of his genitals.
Despite the fact that Santiago told him she did not want to sleep with him on the fatal night, Oct. 8, 2007, he still made the unwanted advances and later called her a "d*** tease" in an interview with law enforcement officials, prosecutors said.
"What precipitates the defendant's murderous rage?" Illuzzi-Orbon asked.
"Irrespective of what she said, he expected from her sexual gratification and when she refuses — he's mad," the ADA added.
Lenahan, who opted for a bench trial, was charged with second-degree murder and faces up to life in prison if the judge finds him guilty.
Prosecutors said there were many signs of Lenahan's sickness and depravity.
He scribbled messages on his wall in red lettering hejust feet away from Santiago's decaying corpse, prosecutors said. He also composed and hung a cryptic painting apparently depicting himself with a naked lifeless woman.
"This is a painting of what I think of you & me," read a message beneath the strange piece of art.
Other parts of the rambling message are hard to decipher but are evidently related to the crime.
"F*** you mom," part of the message said, prosecutors recounted. "This would have never happened if I had my own place."
Lenahan also searched "how to preserve a dead body" on the Internet and tried to find sadomasochist escorts in the time before his mother discovered Santiago's body three days after the alleged strangling.
The accused killer's attorney argued the strangling was accidental, that he'd put her in a choke hold to restrain her as she fought with him over money.
"[His actions] may warrant judgment of some sort, your honor, but it was not murder that caused her death," said Frederick Sosinsky, Lenahan's attorney.
A bench trial verdict is expected from Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Charles Solomon on Tuesday.
Lenahan may be found guilty of second-degree murder, manslaughter or criminally negligent homicide
