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Man receives 180 years for robbing, raping convenience store clerk
By The Associated Press

BOZEMAN - An illegal immigrant who pleaded guilty to robbing and raping a pregnant convenience store clerk last year was sentenced Friday to the maximum of 180 years in prison.

Jose Gonzalez-Menjivar, 32, of El Salvador, nodded in understanding to a nearby interpreter as the verdict was read.

His attorney, Mariah Eastman, called the sentence "clearly extreme."

"It's essentially a death sentence by prison," she said, adding that she may ask for a sentence review. Eastman had asked District Judge Holly Brown to send her client to prison for 35 years.

Gallatin County Attorney Marty Lambert lauded Brown's decision.

"It's unfortunate we can't rely on the protection of our borders to safeguard us from people like Menjivar," he said.

Gonzalez-Menjivar spent 10 years in a Texas prison for assaulting an officer before being deported back to El Salvador in 2001. He returned to the United States and had been living in a tent in Bozeman for about two weeks before the assault.

On April 3, 2005, he entered a Town Pump gas station, held a knife to the 21-year-old store clerk's throat and demanded money. He then dragged her into the bathroom and raped her.

He was arrested following a short standoff.

Gonzalez-Menjivar originally pleaded guilty but later changed his plea, saying said he didn't understand the charges. He changed his plea back to guilty to rape, robbery and aggravated kidnapping nearly a year later.

At Friday's hearing, Brown said the store clerk suffers from nightmares and is too scared to work.

"This victim was injured physically, emotionally and psychologically," she said.

A civil lawsuit by the victim is pending.

It names city and county officials and alleges that law enforcement was not prepared to handle a hostage situation and could have prevented the clerk from being raped in the convenience store bathroom.


Published on Saturday, May 13, 2006.
Last modified on 5/13/2006 at 8:25 am