Thread: N.J. - State Supreme Court throws out convictions on two charges in Parsippany sex as

State Supreme Court throws out convictions on two charges in Parsippany sex assault

on April 29, 2013 at 3:00 PM, updated April 29, 2013 at 4:36 PM
By Ben Horowitz/The Star-Ledger

TRENTON - The state Supreme Court today upheld an appeals decision reversing a Parsippany man’s conviction on two charges, including the most serious charge, in the 2007 sexual assault of an 18-year-old woman who was walking home at 3 a.m. in Parsippany.

The decision will result in the shortening of the 27-year prison sentence imposed on Eric Clemente Rangel, who was 20 at the time of the incident.

The court ruled that Rangel, now 26, was charged under the wrong section of the aggravated sexual assault law, because it was the section referring to an assault on “another,” meaning someone other than the victim.

Rangel, a cook at a pizzeria on North Beverwyck Road in the Lake Hiawatha section of Parsippany, attacked the woman and severely beat her face as she walked along the road on April 22, 2007 after leaving a party, according to police accounts and the court decision.

An undocumented immigrant from Mexico, Rangel was convicted after a jury trial in 2009 of five charges, including the most serious, first-degree aggravated sexual assault, as well as second-degree attempted aggravated sexual assault, both of which were thrown out.

The convictions will stand on the other three charges -- second-degree sexual assault, aggravated assault and obstruction.

The court sent the case back to Superior Court in Morristown for a new sentencing.

Rangel’s public defender, Neill Hamilton, had asked in 2009 for the aggravated sexual assault charge to be dismissed because Rangel was not accused of assaulting “another person,” but Judge Salem Ahto refused.

Describing the incident, the court decision said the victim noticed a stranger – Rangel – rushing toward her angrily yelling while she was walking home. The victim dialed 911 with her cell phone.

While speaking with the dispatcher, the woman was attacked from behind by the defendant, according to the decision. He pummeled her face with his fists, causing her to fall and strike her head on the concrete pavement or a pole. As she lay on the ground, the defendant continued to punch her face as she fought back, the decision said.

As he began to sexually assault her, police officers arrived, arrested Rangel and the victim was taken to St. Clare’s Hospital, according to the decision.

The court said the victim suffered a “very unusual” bone fracture at the base of the nose. She also had a large bump on her head and felt pain there. The woman, a high school senior, missed a number of school days and could not participate in physical education for the rest of the year, the court said.

The decision points out that under another section of the law not utilized by the Morris County prosecutor, sexual assault could be elevated to aggravated sexual assault if there was evidence the defendant used “physical force or coercion” and caused “severe personal injury.”

http://www.nj.com/morris/index.ssf/2...hrows_out.html

WTF? Illegal alien scum beats this woman nearly to death, sexually assaults her and the vermin in the NJ Supreme Court are REDUCING his sentence?