The violent maniac who raped and assaulted an Upper West Side woman last year was sentenced to 30 years in prison this week, and the woman she attacked wanted to remind him of the devastation he caused to her and her loved ones. David Albert Mitchell, a drifter from West Virginia with a violent past, attacked the woman while she was photographing birds in the Strawberry Fields section of Central Park on September 12, 2012. He slammed her to the ground, raped her twice, then made her count to 100 as he walked away with her camera equipment.
At the sentencing hearing on Wednesday, she ripped into him.
“You, David Albert Mitchell, for the pain you inflicted on me and, by association, my loving family and friends, may you rot in hell for all eternity,” she said. She told the judge to “do the right thing so that nobody else is every hurt or menaced by this evil infestation.”
“Make no mistake: This is a sexual terrorist.”
Mitchell has a very long and violent rap sheet and it’s a little shocking that he could ever see the light of day: he’s eligible for parole in 25 years. Here’s a little more about his past, from the Associated Press:
“Mitchell comes from tiny Jenkinjones, W.Va., where he was charged at age 18 with raping and killing an 86-year-old woman. Acquitted in that case, he was then charged with raping a woman in her 70s; the sexual assault charge was dropped as Mitchell pleaded guilty to other charges, his attorney at the time has said.
Later, Mitchell was suspected but never charged in the death of a 54-year-old woman. He served prison time in other cases, including the abduction of his ex-girlfriend. When he was released in 2011, some Jenkinjones residents bought guns to protect themselves from him.”
Mitchell, who is 43, could walk free in 25 years as a 68-year-old. By contrast, a Michigan judge just sentenced former Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick to 28 years in prison for corruption.
In the recent Riverside Park attack on a woman and a 2-year old was by another recently relocated homeless man (from Texas). Mitchell was living in a West Side shelter and in the few months he lived in Manhattan became a constant menace in Central Park. Both men came here because a Judge ruled that NYC must be the only place on earth where someone can arrive and declare themselves homeless and be given shelter on the spot.
What an incentive for other communities to solve their problems with a bus ticket here.
We have a hard enough time providing adequate shelter to our own homeless population without outsiders flooding the system. It is time to change this ruling to something that makes more sense. Other communities must be forced to take care of their own. If there a Court of Common Sense?
Thank you Aaron for connecting the dots.
New York needs to stop being America’s dumping ground for the homeless/mentally ill.
Local police literally put them on the bus and send them to port authority. New York law requires the city to house anyone and everyone who is here.
Also, the guy who pushed (and killed ) the next white man he sees in Union Square last month – was from New Jersey.
I read about his plea in the paper. 30 years to life. up for parole in 25. He was arrested for two similiar attacks in the past in West Virginia – both acquitals.
So, now New York taxpayers will be paying for him for at least 25 years , at a cost that will be in the millions.
Agreed. Just as Interpol ostensibly works with national crime-fighting agencies — I do say ostensibly — seems that there should be more coordination between states. Don’t take this analogy too far, but it’s not like we New Yorkers can drive our trash and recyclables down to West Virginia and leave it there. Local problems, local solutions. Or at least wider agreement.