Victim wants rapist's parental rights restricted

[El_Johns]

75. I haven't figured out what *your* prototypical rape case is.

And yes, people do sometimes get life sentences for rape. Usually they are black men.



BAY MINETTE, Alabama -- A Baldwin County Circuit judge on Thursday handed a life sentence to a local man convicted of rape, but the defendant’s attorney said she plans to appeal the case.

Presiding Circuit Judge James H. Reid issued the sentence to Joe Nathan Thomas of Bay Minette. In late January, a jury found Thomas guilty of first-degree rape in a case stemming from a July 2008 attack on a woman in a city park.

According to police reports, the then 24-year-old victim, who was acquainted with Thomas, said she had helped him pick up his car. She later met him at Bay Minette’s Brownwood Park on Newport Parkway, where she was overpowered and attacked, according to authorities.

Assistant District Attorney Patrick Prendergast told Reid that the victim did not appear in court for the sentencing because she had been intimidated and was afraid.

Thomas, who had two previous felony drug distribution convictions in Baldwin County, according to prosecutors, was sentenced as a habitual offender. In recommending the life sentence for the rape, Prendergast told the judge that the state believes it was appropriate.

Defense attorney Cali Armstrong said she will seek a new trial. She pointed to an absence of DNA comparisons and inconsistencies in the victim’s testimony.

http://blog.al.com/live/2011/03/man_convicted_of_rape_gets_lif.html


But not always:

David Velasquez Faces Life In Prison For Attempted Rape Of His High School Teacher

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. -- REDWOOD CITY, Calif. (AP) — A former Northern California high school student faces a maximum sentence of life in prison after being convicted for attempted rape and kidnapping of a teacher which he testified was a prank.

San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe says Wednesday that it took a jury just 90 minutes to deliberate before returning guilty verdicts an all charges against 21-year-old David Velasquez including kidnapping with the intent to commit rape.

Wagstaffe says the convictions carry a possible life sentence for the ex- student at Summit Preparatory Charter High School in Redwood City.

Velasquez testified he was playing "a prank" when pointing a knife at the teacher and attacking her outside the school in January 2012. The attack ended when another teacher came upon the crime and screamed.

Velasquez remains in the San Mateo County jail on $1 million bail. He faces sentencing on Nov. 8.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/04/david-velasquez_n_4042632.html


HOUSTON — An ex-Houston police officer broke down in tears after he was sentenced to life in prison Monday for raping a waitress in the back of his patrol car.

Abraham Joseph stood stunned when he heard the sentence. He stared at the jury as he tried to process what just happened to him, then began crying.

The former cop’s wife collapsed into the arms of another family member in the back of the courtroom.

Joseph was fired in 2011 after he was indicted for the rape of a 38 year-old immigrant from El Salvador.

During the trial, the victim testified that she was arrested, handcuffed and raped by Joseph as she left her job at a central southeast Houston cantina.

http://www.khou.com/news/crime/Jurors-sentence-ex-HPD-cop-to-life-in-prison-for-raping-waitress--173135661.html