LITCHFIELD -- Elias Garcia, 16, a New Milford youth who pleaded guilty to a 2009 **** at Willow Springs condominium complex, looked fear stricken Friday as he was sentenced to 50 years in prison, to be suspended after 30 years and followed by 35 years of probation.
Judge James Ginocchio handed down the sentence on charges of home invasion, first-degree sexual assault, first-degree assault and a charge of first-degree larceny relating to a separate incident of burglary at Superior Court in Litchfield on Friday.
"I hear the defendant's ****** talk about bad choices, mistakes -- this rings hollow to me," Ginocchio said, addressing the now 26-year-old victim and her ******.
"I've tried to hear something that would tell me why this happened ... I don't know what went wrong with this young man, but there's something intrinsically wrong. It borders on the pathological."
Garcia pleaded guilty in September to breaking into the first-floor unit of a 25-year-old woman at 2 a.m. on Aug. 6, 2009, where he went to the victim's bedroom and, upon her waking, violently attacked her and ********** her until she became ***********.
Garcia then ***** the woman, who was unaware of what occurred until she awoke sometime later, according to court testimony.
The victim told the court she could barely move and that it took her 10 minutes to get her breath back. She said she could not find the phone in the mess that had resulted from the struggle and it was only later that she realized she was "half naked."
Flanked by her ****** and ******, the victim, who had been working toward her MBA in August 2009, the month of the ******, told the court her life had been irrevocably changed by the **** and assault. She lost her job, had to leave college and now lives in fear, she said.
"I had never before that night heard this stranger's name that will forever ring in my mind and haunt me," she said through sobs, her ******'s hand on her back. "I will always fear this person will come and try to ****** me again."
The victim, her ****** and her ****** all referred to Garcia as "this *******" as they addressed the court.
"I'm truly sorry for my actions," Garcia told the court. "I know that never in my life will I be forgiven for what I did. I know that I have made some terrible mistakes in my life but I don't want to be known as a *******, as a criminal. Every day for the last year, I think about what I've done to an innocent person."
Garcia's parents and neighbors from the Willow Springs condo complex spoke on his behalf. Neighbor Maria Galan said she always thought of Garcia as "a playful *****" and that when she heard what had happened she said she thought "it was incredible."
"Maybe he wasn't fully conscious of what he was doing," Galan said, referring to defense attorney Damian Tucker's assertion that Garcia had been ******** heavily the evening of the ******.
Senior Assistant State's Attorney Dawn Gallo painted a different picture of Garcia, however. She outlined a "history of criminal behavior," with cases pending in Litchfield and other jurisdictions on charges of larceny, burglary and fourth-degree sexual assault.
She told of Garcia's parents being "afraid" at his violent outbursts when they attempted to "control his actions." An assertion, Garcia's ******, Claudia Espinosa, denied in court.
Judge James Ginocchio handed down the sentence on charges of home invasion, first-degree sexual assault, first-degree assault and a charge of first-degree larceny relating to a separate incident of burglary at Superior Court in Litchfield on Friday.
"I hear the defendant's ****** talk about bad choices, mistakes -- this rings hollow to me," Ginocchio said, addressing the now 26-year-old victim and her ******.
"I've tried to hear something that would tell me why this happened ... I don't know what went wrong with this young man, but there's something intrinsically wrong. It borders on the pathological."
Garcia pleaded guilty in September to breaking into the first-floor unit of a 25-year-old woman at 2 a.m. on Aug. 6, 2009, where he went to the victim's bedroom and, upon her waking, violently attacked her and ********** her until she became ***********.
Garcia then ***** the woman, who was unaware of what occurred until she awoke sometime later, according to court testimony.
The victim told the court she could barely move and that it took her 10 minutes to get her breath back. She said she could not find the phone in the mess that had resulted from the struggle and it was only later that she realized she was "half naked."
Flanked by her ****** and ******, the victim, who had been working toward her MBA in August 2009, the month of the ******, told the court her life had been irrevocably changed by the **** and assault. She lost her job, had to leave college and now lives in fear, she said.
"I had never before that night heard this stranger's name that will forever ring in my mind and haunt me," she said through sobs, her ******'s hand on her back. "I will always fear this person will come and try to ****** me again."
The victim, her ****** and her ****** all referred to Garcia as "this *******" as they addressed the court.
"I'm truly sorry for my actions," Garcia told the court. "I know that never in my life will I be forgiven for what I did. I know that I have made some terrible mistakes in my life but I don't want to be known as a *******, as a criminal. Every day for the last year, I think about what I've done to an innocent person."
Garcia's parents and neighbors from the Willow Springs condo complex spoke on his behalf. Neighbor Maria Galan said she always thought of Garcia as "a playful *****" and that when she heard what had happened she said she thought "it was incredible."
"Maybe he wasn't fully conscious of what he was doing," Galan said, referring to defense attorney Damian Tucker's assertion that Garcia had been ******** heavily the evening of the ******.
Senior Assistant State's Attorney Dawn Gallo painted a different picture of Garcia, however. She outlined a "history of criminal behavior," with cases pending in Litchfield and other jurisdictions on charges of larceny, burglary and fourth-degree sexual assault.
She told of Garcia's parents being "afraid" at his violent outbursts when they attempted to "control his actions." An assertion, Garcia's ******, Claudia Espinosa, denied in court.
