An American, Matthew Louis Resse, was given an additional 20 years in prison Thursday morning, bringing the total sentence to 95 years.
Judge Pat McDowell told Reese he must serve at least half of that term before he could be eligible for parole (he’ll be almost 80 by then). He must also pay a $5,000 fine.
Prosecutors got just what they wanted: stacked sentences for the three charges that Reese pleaded guilty to.
Defense lawyers were asking for concurrent sentences.
Staff writer Naheed Rajwani contributed to this report:
A 31-year-old man who admitted giving a 15-year-old girl HIV was sentenced to 75 years in prison today.
Reese pleaded guilty Tuesday to three charges: aggravated sexual assault of a child with a deadly weapon, aggravated sexual assault with serious bodily injury and sexual assault of a child.
His plea would result in 55, 20 and 20 years in jail for each respective charge.
McDowell decided to stack the first two sentences today and is expected to rule Thursday on whether the last sentence will be stacked or served concurrently with the first two sentences.
In his closing arguments before today’s ruling, defense attorney Allan Fishburn asked the judge to allow Reese to serve his sentences concurrently because he admitted to his relationship with the 15-year-old.
‘Yes, he committed statutory rape, he had AIDS or was at least HIV-positive, and he didn’t tell her – that’s why we got 55 years,’ Fishburn said.
Fishburn added that given his condition, it’s unlikely Reese will live to be 81 years old, when he could be eligible for parole.
But prosecutor Soni Lewis said Reese would be a danger to the community if there is even a slight possibility of his release.
‘The only person he cares about is himself,’ Lewis said in her closing arguments, ‘and because of that this defendant needs to go away for as long as the law allows, not because of the type of person he is, but because the community needs to be protected from Matthew Louis Reese.’
The girl Reese admitted infecting with HIV testified Tuesday that she met Reese when she called a chat line in December 2012. She was a virgin when she met Reese, she testified, and their first sexual encounter was inside a car at a Garland movie theater in 2013.
The girl, now 17 years old, testified that they never used a condom. Reese knew he was HIV-positive but did not tell the girl, according to testimony.
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