Curtis Tucker pleaded not guilty Tuesday to attempted murder, attempted rape and other charges. The 46-year-old is imprisoned in an unrelated burglary case.
Manhattan prosecutors say Tucker choked the 14-year-old girl unconscious and seized her money as she got off her apartment building elevator in March 2004. Prosecutors say she revived and fought back, both fell down three flights of stairs and he tried to rape her.
Authorities found the attacker's glasses and took a DNA sample.
But prosecutors say it went unidentified until Tucker's DNA was entered into a state database in September, after his burglary conviction.
