Jose Nuñez-Garcia, 30, claimed the “devil got into me”
MINEOLA, N.Y. – District Attorney Madeline Singas today announced that a New Cassel man was sentenced today for raping a 28-year-old woman he didn’t know on a residential street in New Cassel in April 2014.
Jose Nuñez-Garcia, 30, a native of Honduras who had been living in New Cassel at the time of the incident, was sentenced to 15 years in prison to be followed by 15 years of post-release supervision by Acting Supreme Court Justice Helene Gugerty. The defendant was convicted on November 20, 2015, of Rape in the 1st Degree (a B violent felony), Rape in the 3rd Degree (an E felony) and Sexual Abuse in the 1st Degree (a D violent felony). The jury deliberated approximately two days after a month-long trial presided over by Judge Gugerty.
The NCDA recommended a sentence of 20 years in prison with 20 years of post-release supervision.
“This predator followed a young woman whom he had never met and attacked her on a residential street,” DA Singas said. “I am grateful to the police officers who arrested this defendant and the members of the NCDA staff who secured a conviction against him at trial. Thankfully, this depraved individual will be off the streets and unable to terrorize anyone else.”
DA Singas said Nuñez-Garcia was arrested by the Nassau County Police Department Third Squad on April 27, 2014, after he raped a 28-year-old woman he didn’t know on a residential street in New Cassel at approximately 4:40 a.m. that day. The woman had been walking to the home of a relative when the defendant began following her. When the woman began to walk past an empty lot, Nuñez-Garcia knocked her to the ground and raped her. The defendant was caught by another person who was on the street a few houses away and saw the woman run from the lot, half naked and crying for help, followed by the defendant, who then fled in the opposite direction.
When questioned by the NCPD Special Victims Squad after his arrest, Nuñez-Garcia admitted to raping the woman, claiming that the “devil got into me.” He said that he saw the woman walking on the street and began to follow her. He said, “I lost my mind” and then raped her. At trial, Nuñez-Garcia’s attorney claimed that the police made up the defendant’s confession and that the woman fabricated the claim of rape and, rather, had consented to have sex with Nuñez-Garcia in the empty lot.
The woman suffered multiple abrasions, lacerations and bruises as a result of the attack that occurred in an area covered in debris, mud and broken glass. She has since recovered from her physical injuries.
Assistant District Attorney D.J. Rosenbaum of DA Singas’ Special Victims Bureau is prosecuting the case. Nuñez-Garcia was represented at trial by Michael Berger, Esq.