XPost: talk.politics.guns, neworleans.general, alt.abortion   
   XPost: sac.politics   
   From: nobody@yamn.paranoici.org   
      
   https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/theadvocate.com/con   
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   Sherman Hampton   
      
   A man who police said escaped their grasp for years as he sexually assaulted a   
   series of women stands to receive a life sentence after he was convicted by a   
   New Orleans jury Thursday.   
      
   Sherman Hampton, 64, was convicted of three counts of aggravated rape and one   
   count of simple rape after jurors deliberated for two hours, the Orleans   
   Parish District Attorney’s Office said.   
      
   The case was defined by DNA evidence from sexual assault examinations that   
   linked Hampton to all of the attacks.   
      
   Criminal District Court Judge Robin Pittman is set to hand Hampton a mandatory   
   life sentence on Feb. 22.   
      
   Authorities said Hampton raped women who were strangers to him for years in   
   vicious, armed attacks.   
      
   He was convicted of forcing a woman from a bus stop to an abandoned building   
   near the former St. Thomas housing development and raping her in June 1992.   
   The woman testified at the trial that she feared for her life as her hands   
   were bound with duct tape.   
      
   Authorities said Hampton also raped a woman in a stairwell with a gun against   
   her head on Third Street in May 1995.   
      
   Then he raped a woman on Freret Street in April 2003, prosecutors said. He was   
   convicted of simple rape in that case rather than the charge of aggravated   
   rape sought by prosecutors.   
      
   Finally, prosecutors said, Hampton raped a woman with a knife to her throat   
   inside a home on South Liberty Street in May 2003. The victim’s young cousin   
   was sleeping just feet away.   
      
   Police obtained warrants for Hampton’s arrest at the Louisiana State   
   Penitentiary at Angola while he was serving a separate sentence for a 2003   
   burglary. He was booked on the rape counts after his release from prison in   
   October 2013.   
      
   At the trial, defense attorney Greg Carter argued that none of the victims had   
   identified his client, and that they gave police conflicting descriptions of   
   their attacker. He said the DNA evidence could not be trusted because it   
   contradicted the victims'    
   statements.   
      
   Assistant District Attorneys Tiffany Tucker and Angad Ghai prosecuted the case.   
      
   In a statement, District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro praised the woman who chose   
   to testify against Hampton years or decades after the attacks.   
      
   “Their wait has been interminable; their pain has been acute for more than   
   16 years,” he said. “I hope this verdict gives them relief and comfort.   
   Because of their brave testimony, this brutal rapist won't be free to hurt   
   anyone again."   
      
   Carter said his client would appeal. "My client vehemently disagrees with the   
   jury’s verdict," he said.   
      
   https://www.theadvocate.com/new_orleans/news/courts/man-convicte   
   -of-four-cold-case-new-orleans-rapes-to-receive-mandatory-life-s   
   ntence/article_5d09358c-309e-11e9-afed-13947d49acdd.html   
      
   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
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