By Cynthia Koons
The fifth and final suspect in the brutal gang rape of a 42-year-old mother in Flushing Meadows Corona Park last winter was sentenced last week to 22 years in prison.
The sentencing of Jose Hernandez, 29, a homeless immigrant from Mexico, was delayed pending psychological review in February after he pleaded guilty to gang raping the woman with four other homeless men.
“All defendants have now been sentenced to lengthy prison terms for taking part in one of the most shocking and brutal crimes in Queens County history,” Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said.
“The sentencing closes the book on this horrible crime and will enable the victim to continue the process of healing secure in the knowledge that her attackers have been sentenced to lengthy prison terms.”
Hernandez’s sentencing in Queens County Criminal Court in Kew Gardens ended a case that captured national headlines when it was first reported in December 2002.
The mother was walking through the park with her boyfriend on Dec. 19, 2002 when the couple was surrounded by a group of homeless men and attacked. After the couple was robbed of their money and jewelry, the men dragged the woman to a makeshift shack where they took turns raping her over a three-hour period and threatened her with death, according to the district attorney’s office.
The woman was found by a canine team which searched the area after her male companion cried out for police help.
Defendants Victor Cruz, 24, Luis Carmona, 21, Armando Juvenal, 23, and Carlos Rodriguez, 24, pleaded guilty to charges that included rape, sodomy, kidnapping and robbery and were sentenced to 21 to 23 years in prison earlier this year.
In a letter to the court read at the first sentencing, the victim conveyed her wish to see the men imprisoned.
“I would like for them to spend their entire life in prison,” the letter said. “I feel that the way they brutally raped me, one after the other, dragging, punching and hitting me — they took my life, my soul.”
At the request of his defense attorney, Hernandez was subjected to a psychological test that yielded ambiguous results as to his mental capacity. Judge Randall Eng used the evidence to submit him for further testing.
In the psychological review presented in February, the findings first stated that Hernandez had the capacity to understand the court proceedings but then went on to say he was not fit to be sentenced.
Hernandez’s attorney, Robert Miller, said his client had significant impairment communicating and had been hospitalized in Mexico.
Hernandez and the others were variously charged in an 18-count indictment that included charges of rape, sodomy, kidnapping, assault and robbery.
Their guilty pleas allowed the woman to forgo testifying in court.
Four of the five defendants entered the country illegally from Mexico and Ecuador. Hernandez, Rodriguez and Juvenal had criminal records prior to the attack for offenses ranging from possession of marijuana to robbery, according to authorities.
After the attack, U.S. Rep. John Hostettler (R-Ind.) held a congressional hearing addressing issues of why immigrants are allowed to remain in the country after being convicted of crimes.
Reach reporter Cynthia Koons by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 141.
