BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - A convicted rapist who in 2009 used a stun gun and handcuffs to subdue college students in Louisiana and Mississippi has been sentenced to 27 years in prison for sexually assaulting a Baton Rouge woman.
State District Judge Bonnie Jackson said Tuesday James Crockett Jr. must serve that time consecutive to the 35 years he is serving at a Mississippi prison for raping a college student in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, the day after the Baton Rouge attack.
The Advocate reports (https://bit.ly/1uzCqJz) Crockett, who was scheduled to stand trial this week on an aggravated rape charge, pleaded guilty Monday to forcible rape.
Jackson said Crockett had communicated an apology to his Baton Rouge victim, but the judge called such a gesture “woefully inadequate to address the harm” he caused.
“This was a traumatic life-changing event for her,” Jackson told a shackled Crockett, formerly of Chalmette in St. Bernard Parish. “I hope this will give her some relief.”
The judge said Crockett will serve his Baton Rouge time once he completes his Mississippi sentence. She said the consecutive terms will make it impossible for Crockett to harm another woman.
“I think it was a fair resolution because it’s essentially a life sentence,” East Baton Rouge Parish Assistant District Attorney Sue Bernie said outside the courtroom.
In the Baton Rouge case, Crockett admitted to raping a 22-year-old woman in her apartment on July 5, 2009.
She was attending Baton Rouge Community College at the time.
In Mississippi, he pleaded guilty to raping a 21-year-old University of Southern Mississippi student at her Hattiesburg apartment on July 6, 2009.
Authorities have said Crockett used a stun gun and handcuffs during both sexual assaults.
Crockett was detained in Florence, Alabama, on July 7, 2009, after he was caught hanging around an apartment complex with handcuffs and a stun gun.
Police kept the stun gun and handcuffs and sent a profile of Crockett to law enforcement officers across the Southeast.
Crockett returned to Louisiana and attacked a woman in Hammond with a stun gun on July 10, 2009, but she was able to fend him off, according to authorities.
Crockett was arrested July 12, 2009, after an intense manhunt when he crashed his car during a 15-mile police pursuit near Huntsville, Alabama.
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Information from: The Advocate, https://theadvocate.com
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