A woman on the verge of joyous tears pumped her fist in the air as a judge sentenced Donald Eugene Younge Jr. to spend up to the rest of his life in prison, a moment 13 years in the making.
Younge was convicted last month of beating, raping and robbing a U student in 1996 who was on her way back from a night class on campus. On Friday, 3rd District Judge Deno Himonas sentenced Younge to spend two consecutive terms of 15 years to life in prison for the beating and raping, both first-degree felonies, as well as a sentence of one to 15 years for the robbery.
“The public has this image of a rape and that’s just what this was—a stranger in a dark alley,” said lead prosecutor Cristina Ortega.
Police did not have an identity for the victim’s attacker, but they did have a DNA sample. They eventually tied it to Younge while he was in an Illinois jail awaiting trial for the deaths of three prostitutes. Those charges were dropped, but he was extradited to Utah to face trial for the U student’s rape—the first case in Utah to use DNA as the identifying evidence.
ng Younge serve each sentence consecutively for the crime—instead of earning time on all three at once—sends a message to the parole board that he is a menace to society and should not ever be set free, Ortega said.
But a lethal injection could cut his life in prison short. Younge will be tried later this year for the 1999 death of U student Amy Quinton, a capital-level crime that carries the death penalty. The 3rd District Court has not set a trial date.
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