Thursday, August 14, 2008

17 year old Twin Cities rapist sentenced to 15 1/2 years in prison

Ramsey County District Judge Michael T. DeCourcy sentenced an 18 year old suburban Twin Cities rapist to 15 ½ years in prison yesterday for an attack which took place August 18, 2007. Tarrance Jamal Peaches of Brooklyn Park, MN beat and raped a 17 year old girl from Fridley, MN in an alley early that morning.

According to court documents, the girl told police she had left a party and was walking near White Bear Avenue when a male grabbed her, threw her to the ground and forced her to give him oral sex. He then shoved her onto the bed of a truck, where he threatened to kill her and raped her two more times.

The victim was able to escape when two witnesses drove up in a truck and interrupted the assault. The defendant stole the girl's purse but left his cell phone at the scene. His DNA also was found during a sex assault exam on the victim and on a condom that was left at the scene.

According to Assistant State’s Attorney Heidi Westby, the girl missed a lot of school and is “emotionally distraught” and “unable to speak about the offense.”

The girl, now 17, and her mother sat red-eyed and huddled together in the courtroom Wednesday for the sentencing of Tarrance Jamal Peaches, but they did not give victim-impact statements.

Peaches plead guilty in June to 1st degree criminal sexual conduct, which carries a mandatory minimum 12 year prison sentence. Judge DeCourcy sentenced him to the 15 ½ years after calling the attack particulary heinous, saying, "We're all diminished by this."

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