Man who slept with, pimped grown daughter out sentenced to 15 years imprisonment, 15 years sex offender probation - daughter sentenced to probation

(Original Post 5-2-10)

A Palm Coast, FL man who prostituted and had sex with his grown daughter was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment and 15 years of sex offender probation Friday, April 30. Alton Smith, 47, was sentenced after pleading guilty to two counts of incest, one count of living off the earnings of prostitution and 52 counts of possession of child pornography. After completion of prison, Smith will be subject to lifetime monitoring under Jessica's Law and civil commitment under Florida's Jimmy Ryce Act.

The incest and prostitution counts were due to his pimping (and having sex with) his daughter Kristilyn. The incest led to a 3 year old son who is now in state custody. Because the incest happened in the presence of their son at their former business, Hot Shots A1A Models and Photography, one of the charges Smith plead guilty to was lewd and lascivious exhibition in the presence of a minor under 16.

A suspicious advertisement for an escort service led investigators to arrest Kristilyn Smith for prostitution on Dec. 12 [2008]. Alton Smith also was charged with being a principal to prostitution and was given a notice to appear in court.  According to a police report, Smith admitted his daughter occasionally worked as a paid escort and he told police that those who answered his Internet ads usually would photograph or film his daughter in the nude.

When Flagler investigators returned to the Smiths' Palm Coast home with a search warrant later in December, they said they found photos of "hundreds" of children posed nude or engaged in sex acts.

Officials also arrested Smith's wife, Tina Marie Smith, 44, who is his daughter's stepmother. Tina Marie Smith had been jailed for 15 months until last month when she struck a deal, pleading guilty to aggravated child abuse in exchange for prosecutors dropping 37 counts of possession of child pornography against her. She was sentenced to 10 years sex offender probation and will not be listed as a sex offender.

Kristilyn will be sentenced at a later date for 3 counts of incest, prostitution, and child neglect.

(Update 11-23-10) Last Monday, November 16, Kristilyn was sentenced to 5 years probation in a Daytona Beach courtroom for a single charge of incest.  Flagler County, FL Circuit Judge Kim C. Hammond dropped a second incest charge and a child neglect charge. Volusia County sentenced Kristilyn to 15 years probation for another incest charge. This concludes the criminal proceedings against her.

Sushi chef serial rapist gets 40 years with 34 to serve

A former sushi chef who was convicted of raping women in the Miami and Miami Beach areas was sentenced to 40 years imprisonment with at least 34 to serve by a Miami Dade court Monday, November 1. 31 year old Arturo Ortiz-Soto plead guilty to 2 counts of rape and two counts of attempted rape under Judge Ellen Sue Venzer, sparinig himself a maximum sentence of 140 years.

Ortiz-Soto worked as a sushi chef at various Miami Beach restaurants, the last a rooftop sushi bar at the Gansevoort South Hotel. His spree included:

• Raping a woman he met outside Jerry's Famous Deli in November 2006. Claiming he owned his own sushi restaurant, Ortiz-Soto bought her a calzone then lured her to an alleyway off 14th Street and Collins Avenue.

• Raping a woman in an alley off Collins Avenue and Ninth Street. Ortiz-Soto spied her leaving Mango's Tropical Cafe and lured her into the alley by promising to sell her marijuana. ``Forgive me, I'm sorry,'' he told the woman after the attack, before running off.

• Attempting to rape a woman he met at The Office bar in September 2007. He brutally beat her in an alley off Fourth Street -- after offering her pizza -- but the woman was able to break free.

• Trying to rape a woman in an alley off Collins Avenue and 14th Street in July 2008. He punched the woman several times but was scared off by the screams of a passerby.

After the last attack, police officers saw Ortiz-Soto jump into a taxi with blood covered clothes, and surveillance cameras captured him to the act. According to prosecutor Ivonne Sanchez-Ledo, the perp left DNA evidence in the two rape cases. Ortiz-Soto confessed to the crimes after his arrest. Sanchez-Ledio and defense attorney Christopher DeCoste agreed to a three decade sentence, but Judge Venzer rejected that sentence as being too lenient., leading to the 40 year plea bargain. "You have irreparably changed the lives of your victims by your behavior.I do believe this sentence will sufficiently guarantee you do no more harm to our citizens.''

Bay Area serial rapist gets life for attacking four women

A Richmond, California man will spend the rest of his life behind bars for a rape spree committed against four women between 2007 and 2009 in his hometown and the nearby city of Oakland. Michael Edward Stevens, 30, was sentenced to 165 to life for 15 felonies and 2 misdemeanors. His conviction took place in July, and the sentencing took place Friday, November 5, presided over by Contra Costa County Superior Judge Laurel Brady. Crimes which merited the lifelong sentence included rape, rape in concert, various other sex crimes, false imprisonment and robbery.

Prosecutor Dana Filkowski argued at trial that Stevens is a serial rapist who took sexual pleasure in terrorizing the victims -- some of them prostitutes -- by using a gun and pretending to be an off-duty police officer after sweet-talking them into his car.

One of the victims was a deaf-mute homeless woman who testified Stevens kidnapped her off the street. Another said Stevens left her naked on the side of a road, after which she cloaked herself in a garbage bag and huddled in a portable toilet while she waited for police.

One woman said she was gang-raped by Stevens and a second man who had been hiding in Stevens' trunk when she first got into the vehicle. The second assailant was recently identified at Stevens' nephew, who was 14 when the New Year's Eve 2008 attack occurred.

The nephew, Frank Stevens Dean, now 16, is currently jailed in another county for an unrelated matter, Filkowski said. Once that case is resolved, he will be brought to Contra Costa County, where he has been charged as adult with six felonies, including rape and firearm enhancements.

One of Stevens’ victims said, ”I thank God that the victims are alive, and myself," she said. "I am happy to never see his face again." As for Stevens, just before sentencing, he said, "Murder me today, see me tomorrow... if not in this life, the next." Stevens said. "I assume that's not a threat," Brady said. "That's a promise," he replied.

Seattle serial rapist faces, gets mandatory life without parole sentence for rapes of homeless women

(Original Post 9-20-10)

A serial rapist who was convicted for attacks on two homeless women will be sentenced to life without parole after a Seattle jury convicted him of 2 counts of 2nd degree rape Thursday, September 16. The life sentence which 51 year old Frank Borders will serve upon his sentencing is a consequence of Washington State's three strikes law, which mandated the sentence for a third strike.

The first rape was reported in December 2007, when a 55-year-old woman said Borders, her boyfriend's brother, raped her in the restroom at a downtown Seattle park. The investigation stalled, however, when the victim, who was homeless, disappeared for several months.

After the woman agreed to be interviewed by police the next October, Seattle police began posting fliers with Borders' photo at several downtown homeless shelters in search of other possible victims, according to the court documents.

On March 17, 2009, the day after a flier was posted at a YWCA shelter downtown, police were called by a woman who claimed Borders lured her into the woods with the promise they would smoke crack and assaulted her, court papers said.

The second victim testified during both trials that she didn't come forward earlier because she was convinced that nobody would care about what happened to her because she was homeless during the summer of 2007. She is now 48, off drugs and living in an apartment.

Senior Deputy Prosecutor Julie Kays said that due to Borders' 1981 rape conviction of attacking a 18 year old woman for which he served a year in jail and 5 years probation, life without parole is mandatory. "These 12 people protected our community and our very vulnerable by finding him guilty. I have no doubt that if he were released he would re-offend. These 12 people got it that it doesn't matter if you're homeless and an addict you will still get justice."

Borders' attorney, Julie Gaisford, begged to differ, citing the fact that one of the victims was high on crack cocaine and that other did not reliably identify her client. "You glimpse truth over your shoulder, you never see it head on."

(Update 11-4-10) Borders was formally sentenced Friday, October 29, to life without parole by Superior Court Judge Helen Halpert. Before sentencing, Kays said that for targeting vulnerable women, "He preyed on vulnerable women and he banked on the fact no one would care if they came forward.He deserves, based on his conduct alone, to spend the rest of his life in prison."

One of Borders' victims said that the sentencing itself showed that at least in some cases, the justice system does work for vulnerable victims. That victim said that because of Borders' imprisonment,  "I do matter.It's a shame he's thrown away his life. I'm trying to rebuild mine." That victim is no longer homeless.

20 year old man arrested in live rape of "girlfriend" pleads guilty in Phoenix court

(Original Post 6-3-09)
A 20 year old Phoenix man was charged with 2 counts of sexual assault, a count of kidnapping, and a count of taking a surreptitious photo. John Hock, 20, had allegedly assaulted the victim, who he knew for a couple of months, on February 26, with the victim alerting police in early March.

Hock set up a computer with a webcam and sexually assaulted a woman he knew as she was passed out from drinking alcohol, according to a Phoenix police probable cause statement released on Monday.

As he did this, he signed onto a Web account and broadcasted the sexual assault live on the Internet, the statement said. The video was then posted to a Web site where it was repeatedly played until the site pulled it off, police said.

Police said Hock raped the woman in her own bedroom after she had been asleep for four to five hours.

She learned about the video after receiving text messages from her friends. After she signed up, the victim found photos of her nude from the waist down. Hock allegedly commented that he knew the victim was passed out and that he was having sex with her without her knowledge.

(Update 9-6-10) Hock plead guilty to attempted sexual assault and voyeurism Thursday, September 2 in Maricopa County Superior Court for the attack. He's expected to be sentenced October 8. Apparentely, Hock is known online for his risque videoes. It is also thought that Hock specifically groomed the victim for the assault.

(Update 10-26-10) On Wednesday, October 20, Hock was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison and lifetime parole supervision. Maricopa County Superior Court Judge John Hannah presided over the sentencing. The victim said, "I opened up my home to him and ended up being molested and videotaped while sleeping."

When Judge Hannah asked about the sentence, the victim said "I think it should be more, Your Honor." Hock said that "I don't think it's fair that I should be a sex offender for the rest of my life over this."

Saudi prince who murdered servant "lover" sentenced to life with 20 year minimum

A Saudi prince who used his servant as a "human punchbag" was jailed for life today for beating and strangling him to death. Saud Abdulaziz bin Nasser al Saud, 34, stood with his arms folded and showed no emotion as he was told he must serve a minimum term of 20 years in jail.

 The prince killed 32-year-old Bandar Abdulaziz in a brutal assault with a "sexual element" at their five-star hotel in central London in February. It was the culmination of a campaign of "sadistic" abuse including a previous "nasty" assault in a hotel lift weeks before.

Mr Justice Bean told the prince, who had tried to claim diplomatic immunity when he was first arrested: "No-one in this country is above the law." Saud, a member of one of the world's wealthiest and most powerful families, did not flinch as the judge described the injuries he had inflicted on the "subservient" Mr Abdulaziz.

The judge said: "I cannot be sure that you intended to kill your victim. I think the most likely explanation is that you could not care less whether you killed him or not."  Saud, shaven-headed and wearing a black top, was watched from the public gallery by his father Prince Abdulaziz, looking ashen-faced and glancing between his son in the dock and the judge passing sentence.

An Old Bailey jury heard how the prince bit his victim hard on both cheeks during his murderous attack at their suite in the Landmark hotel in Marylebone. Saud was fuelled by champagne and Sex on the Beach cocktails when he began the ferocious beating after a Valentine's Day night out.

He was found guilty of murder as well as a second count of grievous bodily harm with intent relating to the attack in the lift. If he ever returns to his home country, Saud faces the possibility of execution because being gay is a capital offence there, and he could seek asylum in Britain when he is eventually released.

The judge said: "It is very unusual for a prince to be in the dock on a murder charge. But your trial has proceeded in just the same way as anyone else's would in this court. No one in this country is above the law. It would be wrong for me to sentence you either more severely or more leniently because of your membership of the royal family in Saudi Arabia. You killed Bandar in the course of a sustained and ferocious assault. You were in a position of domination over him, as demonstrated both by the lift incident and by the sexually explicit photographs you took of him, at some point prior to February 15, which were found on your mobile phone. Bandar was a vulnerable victim, entirely subjugated to your will. You were in a position of authority and trust over him which you exploited ruthlessly. Whether or not your relationship with him had involved sexual intercourse as well makes no difference to sentence in this case."

Saud's initial claim that the aide's injuries were caused by a mugging were exposed after police discovered CCTV footage of the lift attack on January 22. The judge said: "The most chilling aspect of that footage is that your victim did not resist at all. He was so completely subservient to you that after being treated as a human punchbag he followed you meekly out of the lift."

The attack left the aide's ear swollen to three times the normal size and "beyond medical treatment".
Saud did not take him to hospital and inflicted a further attack in the lift on a later occasion - further evidence, said the judge of "this having been a violent and abusive relationship over a period of weeks if not longer".

The attack which killed Mr Abdulaziz left him with so many injuries, including bleeding in the brain, a fractured larynx and bruising in the abdomen, that pathologists could not say for certain what caused his death.

Saud had murdered him between 1.40am and 2.40am and spent the next 12 hours on the phone "working out his options". "If you had any remorse you would have sought medical help immediately. But you were only concerned for yourself," said the judge.

The prince told a "pack of lies" to paramedics and police before admitting he carried out the killing shortly before the trial - claiming it was manslaughter but not murder, he added.  "To this day you have not explained why you killed him."

A prosecution application for costs was adjourned to be heard on Friday. The sentence spells an end to the gay prince's luxury playboy lifestyle in which he dined in fine restaurants and was attended by male escorts in his hotel room.

A gay masseur who visited him there described the "dashing" Saud as a cross between Omar Sharif and Nigel Havers. In court, his lawyers made a failed bid before the trial started to stop evidence of his homosexuality being made public.

The suave prince pretended Mr Abdulaziz was his friend and travelling companion but no-one seemed aware of the darker side of his treatment of the aide.

Jonathan Laidlaw QC, prosecuting, said: "Beneath the surface this was a deeply abusive relationship which the defendant exploited for sadistic reasons, for his own personal gratification." Mr Laidlaw said the assault leading to the aide's death "was a really terrible, a really brutal attack".

Saud, who told detectives he was the grandson of the Saudi king, had denied killing his servant until shortly before the trial, before finally admitting that he had caused his death. Jurors rejected a claim by his barrister John Kelsey-Fry QC that he was only guilty of manslaughter. Detective Chief Inspector John McFarlane said: "He treated Bandar with utter contempt."

Passaic, NJ man gets LWOP for ax murder of wife

A Passaic, New Jersey man was sentenced to life without parole Tuesday, October 12 for the ax murder of his wife as she ran from her own home onto a street. What made the attack worse was that the victim, Luisa Emilia Chireno, was killed as her children cowered in terror in their room. Police were able to follow a trail of hair and blood, left as the murdered struck the victi in the back with an ax and pulled out her hair.

[34-year-old Fernando] Chireno was convicted of murder in June, after jurors rejected his insanity defense. The victim, who was 26 when she died, had a restraining order against him because of past domestic violence. She ran for her life from her Myrtle Avenue home on April 18, 2008, after Chireno broke in. The couple's children were left in the bedroom as Mrs. Chireno was stabbed 15 times and left in a pool of blood on the street. She died a short time later in surgery.

Before sentencing, Chireno "apologized " to the victim's mother, Carlita Pozo. “From the deepness of my heart, I am sorry. I lost my mind. I was having problems and no one was helping me. I know nothing is going to give you your daughter back, but I, too, lost her. Please, I ask from my heart that you forgive me.”

Judge Reddin issued this statement while handing down the LWOP sentence. “It boggles my mind to think that a human being could do to another human being what he did to Luisa Chireno This was not a spur-of-the-moment attack. He went out and bought the ax. He goes to her house at 2 in the morning. He ripped the hair right out of her head. That’s the savagery of this crime, He buried that ax in her back, and he walked away from the scene.”

Pozo fainted after the sentencing and had to be led out of the courtroom.

Jealous northern England man sentenced to life without parole for at least 30 years for murder of nurse

By Peter Magill [Burnley chief reporter]

FORMER ambulance technician who murdered his ex-girlfriend while on bail for her rape was jailed for a minimum of 30 years today. Ambulance technician and bouncer Jonathan Vass, 30, launched a frenzied knife attack on nurse and mother-of-one Jane Clough, 26, as she arrived for work at Blackpool Victoria Hospital in July. She was admitted to the hospital’s accident and emergency unit where she worked as colleagues tried in vain to save her.

Vass, described as “manipulative and controlling”, was freed to kill after being given bail while awaiting trial over allegations that he had repeatedly raped her. The rape charges were dropped after the murder. John and Penny Clough, her parents, were angered by both decisions - first to free him and then to let the rape charges lie on file. They sat in the public gallery just yards from Vass in the dock as he was jailed for life at Preston Crown Court after pleading guilty to murder at an earlier hearing.

Judge Anthony Russell QC handed down the mandatory life sentence before telling Vass he will serve a minimum of 30 years before he can be considered for release. Vass wept uncontrollably, covering his face his hands as he was told he would only be eligible for parole in 2040.

The victim’s parents and family wept and hugged each other as the court heard for the first time that, after stabbing and slashing Miss Clough with a 3in (7.6cm) blade, he walked away momentarily, then went back seconds later to finish her off.

”As she lay bleeding you walked away but then returned and slowly, deliberately and cold-bloodedly slit her throat,” Judge Russell said as he passed sentence. ”It is difficult to imagine a more horrific crime than this murder. Furthermore it was a crime motivated by real hatred and revenge. This was a deliberate, brutal and callous murder for which you have shown no remorse and no care for your own daughter. Jane Clough was a nurse who devoted her life to the care of others. She had the misfortune to become involved with you. She bore your child and then you murdered her, leaving your infant child without a mother and with the prospect of growing up to learn one day that her father murdered her mother.”

The court heard that Miss Clough kept a diary, detailing her abuse and fears of Vass and what he might do.

She and her family, who held a protest outside court before the case began this morning, were “rocked and devastated” when he was bailed on the rape charges, leaving Miss Clough “extremely concerned for her safety”.  She left home to live with her parents and recorded in her diary that she was worried “Johnny was going to do something stupid”.

He had been relying on her to drop the charges.

Another entry read of fears he would “get his revenge”, adding: “What’s he going to do?”

Dennis Watson QC, prosecuting, said it was clear the motive for the murder was to prevent Miss Clough giving evidence. Mr Watson said the couple met while both working at the hospital but their relationship was troubled because of Vass.

”He was a jealous man who wished to dominate and have complete control over Jane despite the fact that, unknown to her, he was carrying on a relationship with two other women at the same time,” Mr Watson told the court. By early 2009 Miss Clough was pregnant but Vass had become controlling and “sexually demanding”.

In November that year she plucked up courage to report him to police, telling officers of the months of physical and sexual abuse and the repeated rapes even when she was seven months pregnant.

Text messages between the pair were read out.

Miss Clough sent him a message saying: “You have hurt, raped and reduced me to tears on countless occasions... and you want to get engaged and have more kids? Why?” He replied: “We are staying together regardless of our problems.” A second text read: “Why should you come back? To push me about, grab me, rip my clothes off, make me cry...” Another said: “You physically and sexually abuse me. You threatened to kill me the other night.”

Vass’s replies read: “Please can I come home... best behaviour promise”, and “I do love you Janey. Either get pregnant or engaged. Your choice.”

Vass was charged with nine rapes and assault in November 2009 and told a work colleague, an ex-boyfriend of Miss Clough, if he was found guilty he would kill her - but the threat was dismissed as “bravado”. When it became clear she was prepared to give evidence in court Vass decided to take “retribution”, the court heard.

Female swim coach charged with sexual abuse of 17 year old girl pleads guilty, sentenced to year in jail

(Original Post 12-6-09)
Sarah Blessing, a 27 year old South Plainfield, NJ woman who is a 5th grade teacher and Edison, NJ swim coach, was charged Wednesday, December 2 with sexually exploiting a 17 year old swim student at Bishop George Ahr High School. Blessing was formally charged with sexual assault, criminal sexual contact and endangering the welfare of a girl, according to Middlesex County Prosecutor Bruce Kaplan and Edison police chief Thomas Bryan.

The relationship lasted for 6 months, from June to her arrest, according to officials, and was found out when Diocese of Metuchen officials notified Edison police. The Metuchen Dioscese fired Blessing from her swim coach job, a job she held for four years. "The Diocese and Bishop Ahr High School is shocked and saddened to learn of these allegations," officials said in a statement [December 1, 2009]. We, of course, take matters of this nature very seriously."

Blessing , a 5th grade teacher at Park Middle School in Scotch Plains, was suspended from that job pending the outcome of her case. She is being held on $150,000 bond without a cash option at the Middlesex County Jail in North Brunswick. Superior Court Judge James Mulvihill has ordered that Blessing not contact her victim.

Authorities ask that anybody with information about Blessing call Investigator Raj Chopra of the prosecutor’s office at (732) 745-3600, or Edison police detectives Michael Michalski or Tim Farrell at (732) 248-7525.

(Update 8-6-10) Blessing plead guilty yesterday to criminal sexual contact and witness tampering in front of MIddlesex County Judge Judge Joseph Paone, according to prosecutors. She must forfeit her teaching certificate and the right to hold public sector jobs in New Jersey. Blessing must also undergo mental health treatment and have no contact with the victim or girls under 18 without supervision.

She is expected to be sentenced to a year in jail when Judge Paone formally sentences Blessing on September 30.

(Update 10-2-10) Blessing was sentenced to 364 days in jail and 5 years probation September 30, 2010 by Judge Paone. At the sentencing hearing,  Assistant Middlesex County Prosecutor Christie Bevacqua said that Blessing met the victim during a troubled period for the girl. The victim's mother asked Blessing to "watch out for her," but instead Blessing "took my daughter's innocence away." ""The betrayal of trust is a huge thing here," said Bevacqua.

Before the sentencing Blessing read a statement saying "I wasn't manipulative. It wasn't predatory. I had feelings for this person."

Blessing will not be allowed to have any contact with the victim or any unsupervised contact with females under the age of 18 and must undergo mental health counseling. Under the sentence, she can no longer teach and will be barred from holding public employment in New Jersey.

Blessing faced a maximum sentence of a decade behind bars. Criminal sexual contact is a felony which lands one on the sex offender list for life under New Jersey's Megan's Law.

Taken from a New Jersey lawyer's site:

Criminal sexual contact is a third degree charge and if a person is convicted of this crime they will face 3 to 5 years in prison, and serious fines. Additionally, the person will be required to register under New Jersey's Megan's law which is a lifelong notification system in which the local community where the offender lives is provided with his personal information and details about the crime for which he was convicted.

Fabulist who murdered wife convicted, sentenced to LWOP

(Initial Post 9-26-10)
A Tulsa County, OK jury needed only a half hour of deliberation in a lawyer's shooting murder by her own husband. John Robert Kastner, 52, was convicted of the 1st degree murder of his wife, 44 year old Lori Moon Kastner, at their south side Tulsa, OK home on June 25, 2008. The motive, according to Tulsa County, OK prosecutors, was that the victim was about to expose her husband's lies.

Kastner had led his family to believe that all five family members were traveling by plane to Israel on June 25, 2008, prosecutors said. Kastner indicated he was a former member of the Israeli military who had been honored for heroism and that the trip to Israel was related to a high-paying job that Lori Kastner was going to get with a corporation connected to her husband.

No such flight or job offer existed, and Kastner never served in the Israeli military, prosecutors said.

Kastner made significant financial promises to benefit Webster that he could not keep, and he "was a ticking time bomb getting ready to explode," [First Assistant District Attorney Doug] Drummond said.

Drummond also insisted that "[Kastner's] reputation was going to be ruined, and that was the most important thing in John Kastner's life."

The other prosecutor in the case, Assistant District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler, said that Kastner, the "legend of Webster High School," is "nothing but a bald-faced liar. You cannot believe a word that the defendant says."

Kastner said the killer was an intruder who he said picked up Kastner's gun in the house. He told police that he struggled with the intruder and was shot in the hand, and he said the intruder fled with a bag containing about $5,000, evidence indicated.

Kunzweiler said Kastner's account features a "mysterious man" moving around in a dark house and finding a loaded gun and money on the same table. Kastner was an English teacher, "and as an English teacher he deals in fiction," Kunzweiler said

Assistant Public Defender Jill Webb said that Kastner had no motive to kill his wife because killing her would not solve his problems - "John's problem was John." Webb said that while Kastner was guilty of lying and making false promises, it did not prove he was a murderer. Kastner was never called to the witness stand.

When he is formally sentenced tomorrow, Kastner will be sentenced to life without parole - in Oklahoma, murder carries death, life without parole, or life with parole. Prosecutors did not seek the death penalty, and jurors ruled out life with parole.  Amber Merchant, Lori Kastner's best friend, said "We're very pleased with the verdict and feel like justice was served."

Kastner plans to appeal the verdict, according to Chief Public Defender Pete Silva. The presiding judge is District Judge Tom Gillert.

(Update 9-29-10) Kastner was formally sentenced to life without parole Monday, September 27, 2010. If he had been granted parole, he would have had to serve 38 and 3 months before his first chance of it.

Serial "girlfriend" rapist sentenced to life without parole for raping woman in front of her child

A Savannah, GA man with a history of raping "girlfriends" was sentenced to life without parole as four-time habitual offender Monday, September 20. 47 year old Jerry Howard was convicted by a Chatham County, GA jury Saturday, September 18 of rape, aggravated assault, and misdemeanor cruelty to a child for raping and choking his 28 year old "girlfriend" in front of her 1 year old daughter at his home November 29, 2007.

Assistant District Attorney Isabel Pauley presented evidence that Howerd tried to intimidate the victim into recanting the charges and called as a witness a previous "girlfriend" who was attacked in a similar manner in 1988. 

Chatham County Superior Court Judge John E. Morse Jr imposed the life sentence on Howard based on prior felony convictions. The life term for rape and the 20 year term for aggravated assault were imposed consecutive to each other. A year term for cruelty to a child will be served concurrently with the life sentence. Because this is his fourth strike, the life term is without parole. These convictions include robbery, possession of controlled substances and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Howard was released from prison in August 2007, three months before the latest attack.

Below is the law requiring four time felons in Georgia to serve the maximum sentence for that crime without parole.

[A]ny person who, after having been convicted under the laws of this state for three felonies or having been convicted under the laws of any other state or of the United States of three crimes which if committed within this state would be felonies, commits a felony within this state other than a capital felony must, upon conviction for such fourth offense or for subsequent offenses, serve the maximum time provided in the sentence of the judge based upon such conviction and shall not be eligible for parole until the maximum sentence has been served. (from O.C.G.A. 17 -10-7)

Queens rapist gets 37 to 42 years imprisonment for attacking student during first day on job

A Queens, NY rapist was sentenced to a prison term of 37 to 42 years Thursday, September 23. 23 year old James Gillespie was convicted September 3 of the July 2009 rape of a 20 year old St. John's University student in Fresh Meadows, NY. The victim was walking to her first day at work as a part time restaurant hostess when Gillespie pounced.

As Gillespie dragged the woman into an alley, she reached into her purse and called 911 and her pleas for mercy – which Gillespie ignored – were recorded and played back in court during Gillespie’s trial.

"Please don't do this to me- Oh, my God, sir, please!" she pleaded just before the rape. Of course, Gillespie violated her. He also took her cell phone and purse.

Assistant Queens DA Jared Rosenblatt asked for the maximum sentence.

"You are an animal," Rosenblatt said over the objections of Gillespie's lawyer. "You are evil and your actions were heinous."

Gillespie offered a rambling denial."I don't even know why I'm still standing here in this courtroom," he said. "I don't understand what's going on here."

At the sentencing, which the victim attended, her statement to her attacker was this. "You are less than a man. Luckily, I'm a strong individual...I must let you know you are weak. You are a coward. You do not deserve to walk the streets as you are."

Queens Supreme Court Richard Buchter sentenced Gillespie to the max for rape, criminal sex act, and robbery.

"I think Mr. Gillespie is seriously lacking in any humanity.The defendant’s only concern us his own perverse sexual satisfaction. He’s young and that what worries me. He shouldn’t get out while he can still do it again."

Queens DA Richard Brown said about the woman's testimony, "She testified with dignity and grace. Hopefully, knowing that he will now be behind bars for a long time will provide her with a small measure of help in overcoming the physical and psychological trauma." That trauma includes sleepless nights, fear of AIDS, and a reluctance to walk alone.