nothin “I Saw Nothing Less Than Pure Evil” | New Haven Independent

I Saw Nothing Less
Than Pure Evil”

She still sleeps with a hammer under her pillow and wakes up in cold sweats, but the woman who was brutally raped and left for dead in East Rock Park in 2009 took some relief Thursday when her attacker headed to prison for 80 years.

Jose Angel Moreno-Hernandez, who’s 29, received that sentence from Judge David Gold Thursday in a sixth-floor courtroom in State Superior Court on Church Street.

Moreno-Hernandez was convicted in October of the sexual assault and attempted murder of a former co-worker at the Temple Grill who offered him a ride home from work on March 27, 2009. After assaulting her in her car, Moreno-Hernandez dragged the woman by her hair into East Rock Park, where he raped her again and beat her viciously even as she pleaded for her life. She fled to find help after he left her for dead.

On Thursday, members of victim’s family, along with Judge Gold, used the words evil” and even demonic” to describe Moreno-Hernandez’s action.

Some two dozen supporters, including a handful of cops, filled the right side of the courtroom on Thursday. On the left, only Moreno-Hernandez’s brother Marvelio Moreno-Hernandez sat in support of the defendant.

Moreno-Hernandez appeared in court in handcuffs and leg chains, wearing an oversized bright orange jumpsuit and white sneakers. He put in an earpiece to hear live translation of the proceedings into Spanish.

The victim’s sisters and fiance spoke about the lasting impact of the attack on the victim and themselves. The victim’s father choked up as he described his daughter as a person who always wanted to please.” Even as a little girl, she would let other kids ahead of her in line at the Dairy Queen, he said.

The most forceful comments were shared by the victim’s mom, who recounted in detail receiving the terrible call that every mother dreads. A social worker phoned her from the hospital on March 27, 2009, and said her daughter was in critical condition in the trauma unit.

I took a deep breath and asked if she had been raped,” the mom recalled. There was silence on the other end of the line, then I’m afraid so.”

This was my introduction to a world of horror,” the mother said. For a moment, she even found herself doing the unthinkable: planning for her daughter’s burial.

She entered the trauma ward, where bright lights shone on her daughter, who wore a stabilizing collar, her head covered in blood, her eyes swollen shut. She spoke to her, and her daughter tried to turn to her voice.

The daughter squeezed her mother’s hand and whispered, Mama, I fought hard and he hurt me badly. I wouldn’t let him kill me, mama. I just wanted to see your face again.”

The incident has affected her daughter’s life forever, the mother said. She wakes screaming, or covered in sweat and thinking it’s blood. She still sleeps with a hammer under her pillow.”

I can’t help but think how nice” it would be to see Moreno-Hernandez on his knees, pleading for his life, the mother said. She said she’d like to look into his eyes, draw my finger across my throat, point to the sky, and say, morte’.” Moreno-Hernandez allegedly put the victim in a similar position during the attack.

The victim spoke last. I have survived but I am permanently scarred for life,” she said.

She spoke about how her attacker — Mr. Hernandez” — had laughed as she pleaded for her life. Everything would go white as he beat me,” she said. I saw and felt nothing less than pure evil.”

Mr. Hernandez killed the woman that was in those woods,” she said. She now suffers from post-traumatic stress, depression, physical, and emotional pain. She sees her attacker everywhere: He’s in the grocery store; he’s the mail man.

If Moreno-Hernandez were to get out of jail, he would immediately re-offend, she said. He is what he is,” she said. There’s no changing that.”

I ask you respectfully to answer a question posed to me by Mr. Hernandez as he grabbed his crotch and said to me, How much?’” she said. How much is the cost of rape and the destruction of a life? she asked.

Some things are worse than death,” said the prosecutor, Stacey Miranda. I submit that this is one of them.” She asked Gold to impose the maximum sentence.

Defender Tejas Bhatt pleaded for mercy. He asked for a sentence of 40 to 45 years. It is a very, very long time,” he said.

All we’re asking is that you not make this a death sentence,” he said. He asked for one chance at the end of Moreno-Hernandez’s life for him to breath fresh air one more time” and reconnect with whatever is left of his family when he’s 70 years old.

Moreno-Hernandez spoke through an interpreter. I don’t know what happened,” he said. I want to apologize to her family and to her. I’m not the person they believe I am. To tell you the truth I don’t know what happened. That’s all.”

Judge Gold spoke at length, praising the courage and strength of the victim and marveling at the horrific nature of the crime. Every now and then a case comes along and it just shakes you to your very core.”

Because of the victim’s strength and courage, no other woman will suffer what she did, at least not at the hands of this man,” the judge said.

To Moreno-Hernandez, he said, your conduct that night” leaves no doubt that you are an extremely dangerous and violent person” and a threat to society. Moreno-Hernandez’s actions reach a level of depravity that borders on the barbaric and inhumane,” he said. The violence was not simply a means to an end, it was gratuitous” and a source of sadistic and perverse pleasure,” Gold said.

To give this man one more choice would be to give him one more chance than he gave” the victim, Gold said.

He sentenced Moreno-Hernandez to three concurrent 20-year sentences for three counts of sexual assault, 20 years for kidnapping, 20 years for two other sexual assault charges, and 20 years for attempted murder and assault, adding up to 80 years in prison.

The victim’s mom said she is absolutely thrilled” with the sentence. She said it was as though her daughter were being discharged from the hospital.

The victim, tearful but smiling, said she was also happy with the sentence. Moreno-Hernandez won’t have another chance to hurt anyone, she said.

I felt it wasn’t something just,” said Moreno-Hernandez’s brother Marvelio later, outside the courthouse. The sentence is too large, he said.

His cellphone rang — his mom calling from Mexico. After a short conversation, he hung up. She’s very sad,” he said. She’s crying.”

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