David Rosario, 36, of Queens, was sentenced after he attempted to withdraw his negotiated plea to charges of rape, attempted rape, unlawful restraint, and possessing an instrument of crime in the attack, on the morning of Feb. 24, 2008. Rosario was also sentenced to 15 years of reporting probation.
Judge Gwendolyn N. Bright denied Rosario's motion to withdraw the plea, saying he had been repeatedly advised of the consequences when he pleaded guilty on July 31.
Assistant District Attorney Mark Cipolletti said the attacks occurred after the then-30-year-old victim and her 23-year-old female friend returned to the victim's apartment on the 200 block of South Street with some friends from a Saturday night outing at a nearby bar. Rosario, who was among the group, came along.
When the two women awoke, Rosario was in the lower level of the two-story apartment, officials said. Rosario refused to leave and then attacked the women, brandishing a butcher knife and forcing them to undress.
After the rape, Rosario went downstairs and the women locked the bedroom door. Rosario returned and began trying to break down the door, Cipolletti said.
According to trial testimony, the victim then climbed out the window, apparently thinking that she could step on a restaurant sign below her unit and from there make her way to the sidewalk. When Rosario broke through the door, she fell.
In August, Cipolletti said that although the woman sustained brain damage, she was doing "remarkably well for what she went through. . . . She's living at home but getting around on her own."
The mother of the victim told the court her daughter has suffered long-term injuries.
"Our daughter was in a medically induced coma for five weeks," the mother said, adding that her daughter had been unable to return to work as a paralegal.
"Our daughter's sentence is lifelong," the woman said.
The mother said her daughter, who was not in court yesterday, is pregnant, "and the pregnancy is high-risk because of her injuries."
The victim's father said he was insulted by Rosario's attempt to withdraw the guilty plea.
"I think it is outrageous that he would come and try a cheap legal trick," the father said.
Amid tears, the second victim testified that the assault traumatized her, leaving her unable to pursue her plan to attend law school. She said she was stunned by Rosario's attempt to withdraw the plea.
Rosario's "claim of innocence or a mistake . . . I cannot understand," the woman said.
Rosario testified that he did not commit the rape and attempted rape.
"If she wouldn't have fell out the window, all of this would not have happened," Rosario said. "I wish I never went up there with my friends to party. I know for a fact that I didn't do it."
Rosario said he hoped the victims' parents "don't think of me as an animal. I am not the animal they think I am."
Rosario was represented by lawyer Jeremy-Evan Alva, who said of his client: "He's proclaiming his innocence. That's why he is withdrawing his plea."
Cipolletti said Rosario would have been found guilty if the case had gone to trial.
"There is no question that this man did it," Cipolletti said. "There was eyewitness testimony at the preliminary hearing. We were prepared to go to trial, and there would have been more eyewitness testimony."
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