News
New York Doctor Re-Sentences For Rape
By: Susan Tebben | The Athens Messenger
Posted on:
A New York man who has attempted multiple appeals to his 30-year prison sentence was re-sentenced in Athens County Common Pleas Court to the same maximum penalty.
Charles Nguyen, 36, was received the same 30-year prison term Thursday after the case was remanded from the 4th District Court of Appeals back to the trial court. He was originally sentenced in August of 2010 but has since been arguing against the lengthy prison term.
"(Nguyen) deserves every day of the 30 years in prison that he was sentenced to again by Judge Holzapfel," Athens County Prosecutor Keller Blackburn wrote in a news release from the prosecutor's office. "This case has been ongoing for five years and I am hoping that this will finally allow the victim to have closure knowing that the defendant will be in prison until sometime in 2039."
Nguyen was convicted of rape, kidnapping, aggravated burglary and tampering with evidence after an Athens County jury found that he had raped an Athens woman whom he was visiting after meeting her online.
He was visiting her and her family when he bound the woman's wrists and legs with nylon rope, raped her and threatened to kill her nephew if she didn't comply, the Messenger previously reported.
Nguyen began the appeals process claiming that his attorney during the trial, Derek Farmer, had not given Nguyen sufficient counsel and had advised him not to accept a plea agreement that would have substantially reduced his prison time, appeals documents stated.
Attorney Elizabeth Gaba took over Nguyen's appeal, which extended from the 4th District Court of Appeals to the Ohio Supreme Court. The Supreme Court denied hearing the case in December 2013.
The 4th District Court of Appeals denied most of Nguyen's appeal, filed in July 2013, but remanded the part of the case in which two charges were argued to be "allied offenses," meaning they were committed with the intention that one result occur.
The appeals court ordered that the common pleas court decide whether the charges of kidnapping and aggravated burglary could be merged to avoid violating the double jeopardy clause, according to previous Messenger articles.
At Thursday's hearing, Judge Leonard F. Holzapfel agreed with the state's argument that the offenses should not merge.