[ARCHIVED THREAD] - This judge is my new hero...

Posted: 3/10/2010 12:58:48 PM EDT

Teen in Apollo Beach rape case gets a rare life sentence

By Alexandra Zayas, Times Staff Writer

Published Wednesday, March 10, 2010

TAMPA — He held the gun. He had to be persuaded not to kill his two rape victims. The women considered him "the mean one."

He was 13 at the time. On Wednesday, a judge sent him to prison for life.

Jose Guadalupe Walle may be the first U.S. prisoner in two decades to be written off so young for a crime where no one died. Not since 1990 has a teen been sentenced to life without parole for deeds committed before age 14, according to arguments four months ago before the U.S. Supreme Court,

Hillsborough Circuit Judge Chet A. Tharpe predicted Walle would kill if he ever walked the streets again.

"I've taken your client's age into consideration," Tharpe told Walle's attorney. "And I will tell you that this is one of the most disturbing cases that I have ever come across in the 19 years I have been on the bench.

"Your client doesn't have a conscience. He has absolutely no regard for human life.

"If ever there was a case in which the community needs to be protected from someone that's a predator like your client," he said, "this is the case."

• • •

At 13, Walle was a runway, a middle school dropout hanging out with gang members, a user of LSD, cocaine, Xanax, marijuana and alcohol. He befriended two older men, Rigoberto Moron Martinez, 22, and Vicente Reyes-Carbajal, 21. Police say the three went on a rampage of rapes in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties during the summer of 2008.

According to a psychiatrist who evaluated him, Walle was intoxicated and had no memory of what happened in Apollo Beach on Aug. 16, 2008.

His victims cannot forget.

In court Wednesday, the women held hands and clutched notes with all the things they wanted to say. The last time they saw him was during the four-hour nightmare that started at the Docks Bar & Grill in Apollo Beach and ended when they were told to jump out of a van along Interstate 275.

Deputies say the three men covered the women's mouths with duct tape, kidnapped them in one of their cars and took them to a dirt area near Noonan Road. They raped them, took them to a Bank of America ATM, to a gas station and, finally, to a field, where the rapes continued.

"He was the one with the gun the majority of the time," one of the women said. "There was no doubt in my mind that he wanted to kill us.

"He chose to rob us. He chose to abduct us. He chose to rape me.

"My life will never be the same again. I have never, ever regained that sense of mental balance. I will never be able to not look over my shoulder, never be able to sleep sound through the night."

Walle has a third female victim.

On Aug. 3, Walle aimed a gun at a duct-taped kitchen worker to keep him under control as prosecutors say Martinez stripped another employee and raped her on the kitchen floor.

He pleaded guilty to the offenses in both counties, which include armed kidnapping, robbery and a dozen charges of armed sexual battery. In Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Court, he was sentenced to 27 years in prison.

Authorities determined evidence doesn't place him at the scene of a July 19 home invasion and rape in Gibsonton.

The two other suspects await June trials.

Posted: 3/10/2010 1:01:24 PM EDT

[#1]

There's still many opportunities for him in prison. All it takes is the right opening.

Posted: 3/10/2010 1:06:47 PM EDT

[#2]

So, since he is 13, will he go to a juvenile home for criminals and then at 18, be transferred to an adult prison? Or, does a kid simply go to prison when it is a life sentence?

Posted: 3/10/2010 1:10:10 PM EDT

[#3]

But he's so young he could be the next great senator!

Posted: 3/10/2010 1:11:10 PM EDT

[#4]

"dis isnt da way to prison"

"why we be in the desert?"

"why we stoppin?"

Walk.

"what?"

Walk.

*POP* *POP*.................*POP*

Posted: 3/10/2010 1:13:12 PM EDT

[#5]

Quoted:

But he's so young he could be the next great senator!

Ain't that the truth...

Posted: 3/10/2010 1:18:12 PM EDT

[#6]

He will likely thrive in prison.

Posted: 3/10/2010 1:21:33 PM EDT

[#7]

Good call in this particular case, but I still facepalm at the many here who think all

sex crimes should carry a life or death sentence...

Posted: 3/10/2010 1:24:18 PM EDT

[#8]

Quoted:
He will likely thrive in prison.

this. He'll learn whole new skill sets and when some his sentence gets overturned on appeal "for being cruel and unusual to a poor 13 year old" he will be a fine member of society.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - This judge is my new hero...

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Teen in Apollo Beach rape case gets a rare life sentence

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