From http://www.wcnc.com, April 1, 2015
Fitzgerald Rice, accused of sexually assaulting a woman in his apartment in 2012, will spend at least 70 years in prison.
Fitzgerald Rice
A jury found Rice guilty on Wednesday of what the Mecklenburg District Attorney’s Office calls a brutal sex assault.
In that incident, a court determined Rice did force the victim to perform numerous sexual acts while also striking her in the head and choking her if she didn’t comply.
Police say Rice allegedly assaulted three other women in the same apartment over 20 years. They testified in his trial, where the prosecutor also showed old and new blood stains on a mattress to jurors.
“The fact that he has not removed those items show you he doesn’t think it’s disgusting, he thinks this is okay, he thinks this behavior with a woman bleeding on your bed is fine,” Leslie Stephens said to the court room this week.
Rice was found guilty of seven of nine counts against him; four out of five for second-degree sexual offense, two for attempted second-degree sexual offense and one for strangulation. The jury was unable to reach a unanimous answer in regards to a kidnapping charge.
The sentences will run consecutively, totaling the minimum of 70 years.
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