A serial rapist who prosecutors believe began attacking women three decades ago in and around Baltimore County was sentenced yesterday to 60 years in prison.
At the hearing, Alphonso W. Hill was linked to four additional rapes beyond the six that he admitted to last month. The sentencing judge described Hill as "a monster."
Hill, who will be 57 next week, will begin serving his sentence - eight 60-year terms, to run concurrently - after he has completed the 15-year term he is now serving in his 2002 conviction for attacking Laura Neuman, a technology executive whose persistence over two decades finally led to Hill's prosecution.
"I'm truly ashamed for what I've done," Hill said, tears streaming down his face, his ankles shackled, as he stood and faced his victims and asked them to forgive him "for the pain and suffering I've caused you and your families all these years."
Before sitting down, he added, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
Hill, who remains a suspect in other rape cases, pleaded guilty on Oct. 6 to attacking and sexually assaulting six women, primarily along the Loch Raven Boulevard corridor, between 1978 and 2000.
Since Hill's plea, two additional assaults, which took place in January and February 1984, were linked to him through DNA matches, and those indictments were presented yesterday to Judge Dana M. Levitz for disposition alongside the initial six. During the hearing, his lawyer, Stanley W. Robbins, said that while his client admits to having "probably" committed the two rapes in 1984, "he just doesn't remember the facts."
Nevertheless, Hill agreed to the same plea arrangement that had dictated the other cases. An additional two rapes, also linked to Hill through DNA, will not be prosecuted because the victims have chosen not to press charges, said Assistant State's Attorney Jason League, who described Hill as "a small and cowardly man."
Asked by the judge if he understood the conditions of the plea deal, under which he will not be eligible for parole for more than 30 years, Hill responded, "You've been very clear, your honor."
The sentencing in Baltimore County Circuit Court in Towson was marked by harrowing statements from the women, some of whom came to the hearing from out of state. All said they remain deeply affected by their ordeal.
"I've never known terror that deep," said the first woman to speak, who was raped at gunpoint in a laundry room on Donnybrook Lane and threatened with death in January 1984, when she was 20 years old and "a very shy girl."
