Arkansas man gets life in prison for rape of woman during home invasion

Sharp
Sharp

A jury took seven minutes Wednesday to convict a Hot Springs man of the rape of a woman during a 2013 home invasion, the Hot Springs Sentinel-Record reported.

James Eugene Sharp, 33, was sentenced to life in prison after jurors heard the testimony of a 12-year-old girl, the alleged victim in a 2016 rape case pending against Sharp. DNA from the second case led to his arrest in the 2013 rape, the newspaper reported.

Sharp reportedly entered a Garland County apartment through a window in the middle of the night Sept. 25, 2013, when a then-46-year-old woman woke up to see him standing over her and covering her mouth with his hand.

Garland County Deputy Prosecutor Kara Petro said the victim testified that Sharp was armed with "a long skinny tool," possibly a crowbar, and threatened to kill her if she screamed or resisted.

"This was every woman's worst nightmare and it happened here in Garland County," Petro told the Sentinel-Record.

After the man forced her to perform a sex act, he raped her, the victim testified. The newspaper reported that a cloth, the victim's underwear and a rape kit were all submitted to the state Crime Lab. DNA was found but couldn't be matched to anyone in the database at that time.

A break in the case came when Sharp was arrested in the May 2016 rape of a 12-year-old. The DNA submitted by sheriff's investigators to the Crime Lab matched that from the 2013 rape.

Chief Deputy Prosecutor Joe Graham told the Sentinel-Record that Sharp is set to stand trial in the girl's rape Aug. 15 and also has a trial for Oct. 23 on felony charges of video voyeurism involving the girl and domestic battery involving his wife. Prosecutors are still deciding whether to proceed in those cases.

Read the full story in today's Hot Springs Sentinel-Record.

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