Rapist, Deemed a Continuing Threat to 11 Victims, Gets a 153-Year Term

A Buena Park man was sentenced to 153 years in state prison Friday for raping 11 women--most at knifepoint--while committing a series of nighttime burglaries over a two-year span.

Superior Court Judge John C. Wooley sentenced Danny Harris, 43, to 153 years and eight months, a term prosecutors said is the longest in Orange County in recent memory. Harris will not be eligible for parole for at least 73 years.

Based almost solely on the relatively controversial DNA “genetic fingerprinting” evidence, Harris was convicted in June of 28 counts of rape, burglary and attempted rape.

In imposing the maximum sentence possible, Wooley characterized Harris as a “predator who stalked his prey” and who would pose a fatal threat to his victims if he were free.

“The court is concerned that the defendant, who has taken the inner peace (of his victims), will--if not confined--take their lives,” Wooley said.

Prosecutors alleged that Harris raped 11 women--two of whom were attacked twice--between December, 1985, and July, 1988. The attacks, on women who lived alone on ground-floor homes, occurred at night and the early morning hours. The ages of the victims ranged from the late 20s to the 80s.

Harris stalked several of the women days before the actual attack, prosecutors added.

On Friday, two of Harris’ victims emotionally testified of the pain they experienced in trying to recover. One victim told Harris--who refused to return her steady gaze--that she contemplated suicide after the rape.

“My days were filled with pain and my nights were filled with terror,” said the woman, who also told Harris she will try to forgive him. “A part of me died the night that you raped me, and that’s a loss that I can never regain.”

Another victim, who is now 90, told Harris that all her life, “I have tried to lead a normal life. And, now in the last phase of my life, I’ve had this terrible incident happen, and it’s made me feel dirty.”

Wooley also read in court letters from other victims.

One woman told of reliving the rape in nightmares and of trying to run from them, only to fall and break her foot twice. Another victim wrote of the shame she feels in believing that her grandchildren do not think of her as “a grandmother who bakes cookies,” but rather as one who has been raped.

Harris did not look up during the testimony or when the letters were read, but instead, kept his head bowed, his chin resting against his cupped hands.

Harris’ lawyer, Christian R. Jensen, said the lengthy sentence did not surprise him, and that he had warned his client to expect it.

Jensen also said he will file a motion to appeal both Harris’ conviction and sentence because he feels the DNA evidence is not sufficient for the conviction. The DNA testing, devised in 1985, is still too new to be a part of the legal process, Jensen contends.

The prosecutor of the case, Deputy Dist. Atty., Dennis D. Bauer, rejected the contention. He said that DNA testing is sophisticated and will play a crucial part in future trials.

The DNA fingerprinting technique matches a suspect’s unique genetic makeup to biological evidence such as blood, semen or hair left at a crime scene.

Prosecutors presented evidence during Harris’ trial showing that his blood and samples matched fluids left by the assailant.

Harris’ DNA samples were collected in 1988 and were among the first to be used in a case in Orange County. His is the fifth conviction in which DNA fingerprinting has been used.