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Ex-Con Sentenced to Life for Rape, Torture of Columbia Grad Student

2008_07_rwilliams.jpgToday, a judge sentenced Robert Williams to life in prison for the brutal rape and torture of a Columbia graduate student. Williams was convicted last month, with a jury finding him guilty of 44 counts, including attempted murder, kidnapping, arson, burglary, robbery, assault, rape and sodomy. The attack occurred in April 2007, after Williams had gained access to the victim's Hamilton Heights apartment building, followed her to her floor and forced his way into her apartment.

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  • GhettoDiva3

    That is sick

  • JacqueMehoff

    you mean I'm not getting another Christmas card?

    what will I do? Nothing will happen to me, I live the straight and arrow. I've survived this long in this city. to paraphrase Sandra bernhard, I'm still here, damn it.

  • Brooklynbobby

    Jacque, you are an ignorant low-life. I hope the same thing happens to you. Then we'll see what your attitude is.

  • JRod5417

    He got what he deserved. I was afraid the judge would buy his crazy, non-responsive act and have him sent to psychiatric treatment instead.

  • Amanda Harletsch

    I say: Public Lynching for these beasts!

    JAIL? Are you kidding me? the dude is not

  • babyfishmouth

    They should put a taser up his ass. That would be an appropriate punishment.



    What a waste of a human. I'm sure his fellow prisoners will have a field day with him.

  • AnonEMouse

    Thank you, thank you, thank you for restoring a bit of my faith of the legal system. If there were ever a case that was a slam dunk conviction, this was that case. I hope that he gets what he gave-- in fact I'm pretty sure he will --and that helps me sleep at night.



    As for sleeping at night, I can only pray that young woman has sought out professional help and can live a semi-normal life again.

  • 422 years to life in prison.



    My friend B's father's murderer got 300 to life at age 17. It's better than saying life no parole.

  • rape offenders never fare will in prison. He'll be lucky to live a year.

  • Fritzdecat

    Giving this guy a bullet in the head would be the easy way out ..The rest of his life in prison

    is going to be pure hell.

  • JacqueMehoff

    We ALL can get it. the U.S. Constitution is for everyone.

  • nivek

    Don't you think something is also wrong with the system if it also costs more to execute someone than to keep the person alive?

  • Pharmer

    It costs more to execute someone. I think life in solitary is a lot worse. A lot these guys want to die. Why give them what they want?

  • JenChungsBaby

    Bye bye asshole. See ya' in Attica, dick.

  • dadoc

    Yes, yes, Jacque, we get it, Lead. etc.

    Actually life w/o parole can be cheaper/crueller than the DP. Look at Dalmer, etc. Just take away his college courses, weight room, yard time, spiritual advisors, appellant attorneys, free health/dental/psych care, special protection, gender reassignment surgery, counseling, parole hearings, "finding the Lord/Allah/FSM", prison marriage to his groupie, petition for conjugal visits, etc. No free bus rides for his babies' mommas'. Penal colony, Guam, Midway, Diego Garcia, hard time, work to survive or die. Cut the BS. They're in for life, no rights, no coddling. Give'm the same rights they get at Gitmo. Remove him from all contact with society, and make him earn his days to live. In prison.

  • nivek

    Here's the kicker--her tax dollars will be paying for keeping him in jail. Just execute him already.



    The reason crimes like this are still committed are two-fold...the people don't fit in society and the consequence isn't death.

  • Peter

    I'm sure the Law & Order SVU writers are preparing an episode based on this case.



    Except the defendant will be white.

  • Pull My Finger

    Hey lay off the guy he was only keeping it real. Know what am sayin.

  • Roquentin

    Considering that she's still alive this sentence seems appropriate to me.

  • Steven

    Tie him to a chair and give him the same treatment as he did to the woman.

  • west side Michael

    Castration his Daddy shouldabeen dat iz.

    He from dah projects?

  • theevilone

    Oh, I hope he doesn't spend one second in solitary. I want him to be the bitch of genpop.

  • Rocknrope

    Life with no parole is worse. Hopefully he'll also get some years of solitary thrown in for good measure, with a side order of ass rape.

  • life isn't long enough.



    they should jail his mother and father for procreating.

  • Jen S

    He got off easy. I would not hesitate to throw his ass on death row.

  • NannyState

    Like a rabid dog, they should cut off his head and send it to a lab for study.

  • aspiringrapper

    Here's hoping he is raped & tortured while in prison. Scum of the effing earth.

  • JacqueMehoff

    anytime, mr. sidenote,

    I'm only here to help. one person at a time.

  • You're a fucking douchebag.
  • UnrepentantFenian

    So you're supposing that if this criminal was an investment banker we wouldn't be so riled up about the "rapist not only sexually assaulting her [for 19 hours], but he burned her with scalding water and chemicals...and slit her eyelids" "Despite his efforts to blind her by splashing her face with bleach, hacking at her eyes with a butcher knife, and trying to force her to gouge out her own eyes with scissors" "Before fleeing the victim's Hamilton Heights studio, Williams tried to cover up the crime by setting it ablaze while she lay bound to a futon frame".



    I don't see how whether he was a blue collar worker or a white collar worker makes any difference. Oh, maybe you're trying to make this into a race thing. You have a point, typically you have to be a white male to be this f-ed in the head. Either way, we haven't invented a suitable punishment for crimes of this magnitude.

  • sidenote

    I agree, #2, the black dude is totally the victim here. The 19 hours of torturing he did to that girl was like, his artistic rebellion to the white man always putting him down. I get it man, I'm finally seeing the truth. Thanks for that.

  • plk779

    This guy shoulda got death. Rapists are the scum of the earth and he was a hell of a rapist.

  • JacqueMehoff

    let's see how these sentences are carried out in other crimes, you know the one's where the collar color is different.

    but that's ok, you've been trying to keep us down for centuries and you ain't getting rid of us this easy.

    thankfully Pb is still available, yep, even to us.

  • Are you serious? You can't POSSIBLY be that stupid. Do you know what this guy did to that girl? I suggest you shut up before you make yourself look stupider than you already have. What a jackass.
  • UnrepentantFenian

    Glad to see the judge threw the book at him.

    Though he should have followed the sentencing by leaping over the bench, picking up the book, and beating him to death with it.

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