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Rape leads to life sentence
Date:
12/12/2008
Man with lengthy criminal record given no chance for parole for attack in 2006
Staff report
A man
received a life sentence without the possibility of parole this week after a
jury convicted him of raping a woman in downtown Charleston more than two years
ago, the 9th Circuit Solicitor's Office said.
Daniel
Jerome Jenkins, 48, already had spent a large part of his adult life in prison
for felony convictions when Charleston police arrested him on a charge of
first-degree criminal sexual conduct.
His
record extends to 1978, when he received 24 years for a previous conviction on
the same charge, according to the Solicitor's Office. He didn't serve the full
sentence then or when he accrued other serious charges.
"Daniel
Jenkins is the poster boy for no parole," Solicitor Scarlett Wilson said in a
release. "Finally, we can rest assured that he will never hurt another innocent
victim in Charleston County, or anywhere else for that matter."
The
charge that should send him away for good, barring a successful appeal, stemmed
from an attack on April 5, 2006. Prosecutors said Jenkins forced his way into
the Huger Street home of a 31-year-old woman and sexually assaulted her.
He beat
her head and face with a glass ashtray, then stole her cell phone before
leaving, prosecutors said.
Charleston County Clerk of Court records show that police arrested him the same
day.
On
Wednesday, a Charleston County jury spent less than two hours before finding
Jenkins guilty of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, prosecutors said. The
trial lasted three days.
Assistant
Solicitor Chad Simpson called the verdict a big victory for the Solicitor's
Office and the people of Charleston. The real credit, Simpson said, lies with
the victim, "who showed a great amount of courage in going forward with the
trial."
Jenkins'
record also includes a charge of carjacking in 1993, plus charges of strong-arm
robbery and assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature in 2001,
prosecutors said.
He
received sentences of nine and 10 years, respectively. He also was convicted
twice of failing to register as a sex offender.
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