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MORRISTOWN — A pizzeria cook from Mexico who is in the country illegally was sentenced Friday to 27 years in state prison for raping and beating an 18-year-old woman he chased and tackled on a street in Parsippany.
A Morris County jury this spring was an auditory witness to the victim's terror and cries for help, as a tape of the 911 call she made to a State Police dispatcher from her cellular phone as she was chased was played in court.
Eric C. Rangel, 22, now claims he was in an alcoholic blackout when he attacked the woman who was walking the few blocks to her home in Lake Hiawatha around 3 a.m. after a backyard birthday party at a friend's. He knocked her to the ground and sexually assaulted her on April 22, 2007. Police caught him in a clump of bushes off North Beverwyck Road on top of the sobbing victim, with his pants and underwear around his ankles.
Defense lawyer Neill Hamilton asked Superior Court Judge Salem Vincent Ahto to impose a 12-year term, saying that convictions for aggravated sexual assault and aggravated assault should merge. Morris County Assistant Prosecutor Meg Rodriguez asked for 25 to 30 years so that the two major offenses for which Rangel was convicted ran consecutively.
Rodriguez read a letter from the victim, who was not present in court. She said her personality has altered so that she is fearful, quieter and feels unattractive at times.
"I hope he rots and dies in the most worst pain as possible," the letter said.
The judge imposed 27 years, with 85 percent, or about 23 years, to be served before parole consideration. If Rangel is not deported to his native Mexico after his release, he must register with police as a convicted sex offender under Megan's Law and will be under the same law's supervision for life. He will get credit for 810 days he has been held in the county jail.
"You personify one of a woman's greatest fears — encountering a brutal, sexual deviant," the judge told Rangel, who was assisted in court by a Spanish interpreter. "You committed these acts in a brutally violent manner." Rangel apologized to the judge and to the victim, who wasn't there to hear it. But he claimed he wasn't aware of what he did that day. An alcoholic blackout was not mentioned at his trial.
"I would like to ask you for the minimum sentence so I can come out and live my life again," Rangel said.
Hamilton, in arguing for a 12-year term, mentioned that Rangel has no prior criminal record but both Rodriguez and the judge noted he is in the United States illegally and was an underage drinker when he assaulted the woman.
A Morris County jury this spring was an auditory witness to the victim's terror and cries for help, as a tape of the 911 call she made to a State Police dispatcher from her cellular phone as she was chased was played in court.
Eric C. Rangel, 22, now claims he was in an alcoholic blackout when he attacked the woman who was walking the few blocks to her home in Lake Hiawatha around 3 a.m. after a backyard birthday party at a friend's. He knocked her to the ground and sexually assaulted her on April 22, 2007. Police caught him in a clump of bushes off North Beverwyck Road on top of the sobbing victim, with his pants and underwear around his ankles.
Defense lawyer Neill Hamilton asked Superior Court Judge Salem Vincent Ahto to impose a 12-year term, saying that convictions for aggravated sexual assault and aggravated assault should merge. Morris County Assistant Prosecutor Meg Rodriguez asked for 25 to 30 years so that the two major offenses for which Rangel was convicted ran consecutively.
Rodriguez read a letter from the victim, who was not present in court. She said her personality has altered so that she is fearful, quieter and feels unattractive at times.
"I hope he rots and dies in the most worst pain as possible," the letter said.
The judge imposed 27 years, with 85 percent, or about 23 years, to be served before parole consideration. If Rangel is not deported to his native Mexico after his release, he must register with police as a convicted sex offender under Megan's Law and will be under the same law's supervision for life. He will get credit for 810 days he has been held in the county jail.
"You personify one of a woman's greatest fears — encountering a brutal, sexual deviant," the judge told Rangel, who was assisted in court by a Spanish interpreter. "You committed these acts in a brutally violent manner." Rangel apologized to the judge and to the victim, who wasn't there to hear it. But he claimed he wasn't aware of what he did that day. An alcoholic blackout was not mentioned at his trial.
"I would like to ask you for the minimum sentence so I can come out and live my life again," Rangel said.
Hamilton, in arguing for a 12-year term, mentioned that Rangel has no prior criminal record but both Rodriguez and the judge noted he is in the United States illegally and was an underage drinker when he assaulted the woman.
