Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Buffalo, NY murderer, rapist sentenced to 40 to life

New York State Supreme Court Justice M. William Boller sentenced a murderer and rapist to a 40 years to life sentence Friday, December 11, saying that the attacker would have been condemmed if he had struck in either Texas of Florida.

[46 year old Earl Gill] pleaded guilty Nov. 5 to second-degree murder for the death of Johnson and first-degree rape for attacking a 46-year-old woman in the Travelers Lodge on Main Street on Jan. 8, 2006, punching her in the face when she resisted his advances.

Carter told the judge that if she is alive in 40 years when Gill comes up for parole, she will vigorously oppose his release. Gill, Carter said, "doesn't deserve to ever see freedom."

Gill's lawyer, Kevin W. Spitler, said Gill is "remorseful [and] accepts responsibility" for "his inability to control his addiction to drugs," his motive for the break-in.

After the victim awoke to discover Gill ransacking her house, she was sexually assaulted and choked — a plastic bag affixed over her face with duct tape to ensure her death.

Gill, who had been in custody since his arrest February 18, served two previous stints in the New York prison system. The terms were 3 years between 1987 & 1990 for a sex abuse conviction, and a decade between 1994 and 2004 for a burglary conviction.

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