XPost: neworleans.general, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, alt.atheism
XPost: sac.politics, alt.war.civil.usa
https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/nola.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/f/0a/f0a6d964-de4c-11e9-852d-0f48e6eec11f/5d150231b1efe.image.jpg
Alfred Berry, who had been serving time on an armed robbery conviction, was sentenced Monday to 35 years in prison on six counts of second-degree rape and six counts of second-degree kidnapping related to the separate attacks of six women in 1986 and
1987. Berry is pictured at left in a mugshot from the 1980s and in a recent picture in the photo to the right.
He preyed on women as they waited for the bus or walked home from work when he raped them decades ago in New Orleans. He held a knife to one woman’s throat and a gun to another woman’s head.
The assaults haunted them for years. One victim ended her life after jurors deadlocked on one of Alfred Berry’s rape charges.
But inside a courtroom on Friday, survivors stood together and hugged after a judge sentenced Berry to 35 years in prison. DNA evidence this month produced rape convictions that prosecutors failed to secure in the 1980s.
“You can't fool science, thank God,” one of the women said.
Berry, 52, who has been in prison on other charges for many years, pleaded guilty to six counts of second-degree rape and six counts of second-degree kidnapping at a hearing before ad hoc Criminal District Court Judge Dennis Waldron earlier this month.
Under a plea agreement, prosecutors had reduced his charges from aggravated kidnapping and first-degree rape counts that would have carried life sentences, but the deal they reached means he will likely spend most or all of his remaining years in prison.
In victim-impact statements delivered at Berry’s formal sentencing on Friday, several women expressed relief that he will stay behind bars.
In 1986 and 1987, he suddenly appeared and changed their lives forever.
Three women spoke in person, and prosecutors read statements on behalf of two others.
One woman wore a black shirt, earrings and a necklace as she turned to address Berry from the witness stand.
“When this happened to me, I was 16 years old. You probably don't remember me, but I remember you,” she said.
https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/nola.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/5/60/5607c24e-de40-11e9-8f96-8703ad178419/5d892a7de3b1b.image.jpg
Alfred Berry pleaded guilty on Sept. 9, 2019 to a series of rapes in New Orleans. (OPSO)
https://www.nola.com/news/courts/serial-rapist-gets-35-years-women-testify-you-probably-dont-remember-me-but-i-remember/article_e5ab2018-de3f-11e9-9656-635095475617.html
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