Ex-Convict Gets 159 Years in Rapes : Crime: Monette Johnson, 35, cannot be released from prison before the year 2073. ‘He has no remorse at all,’ says one of his seven victims, some of whom have been exposed to the AIDS virus.

Six women, each one a victim of the same rapist and each fearing she has been exposed by his crimes to the AIDS virus, listened quietly Monday as an ex-convict was sentenced to 159 years in prison.

Authorities said Monette Johnson, 35, cannot be released from prison before the year 2073, but the legal coda to the case provided scant solace for those women.

“Monette Johnson is the true essence of evil, and he has no remorse at all for anything he has done,” said one victim. “He deserves not to see the light of day (while) free again.”

A second victim said, “I just wanted to say to Mr. Monette that even on your deathbed, you’ll never understand the pain you have caused all of us the past two years.”

“I don’t ever want to see or hear from this piece of filth again,” said a third victim, a woman who was so traumatized by her attack that she is forced to use a crutch and requires the assistance of a trained “service dog” to help her walk.

The woman looked at Johnson and said she hopes that he dies “from the disease.”

Johnson’s case has gained notoriety when several of his victims were informed by health officials that they had been exposed to the virus that caused AIDS.

While four of the victims were told how they were exposed, they are prevented by law from knowing the source of the exposure. It is a felony under state law to reveal whether someone carries the HIV virus--even a convicted rapist.

“In this type of situation where someone is charged with a sexual assault, (confidentiality) is not appropriate because he is forced to take that test,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Phillip H. Rabichow said. “So why should he have any right to confidentiality?”

Outside court, the woman, who is now disabled, blamed Johnson for sending her on a journey of uncertainty and fear.

After a 7 a.m. phone call from health department officials, the woman attended a meeting where she was told she had been exposed to HIV, but was not told who was responsible, she said.

“I know who it was because I am not sexually active,” said the woman, who ironically tried to prevent her rape by falsely telling Johnson that she was infected with HIV.

“I hope the disease rots his genitals,” the woman said.

All six of the women said that their tests for the HIV virus have been negative for more than a year, by which time the virus is usually detectable, although they continue to be tested regularly as a precaution.

Johnson of Lake View Terrace was convicted one month ago on 26 felony charges. Half of those counts were sex charges, including rape and sodomy. The jury found that Johnson assaulted six women and one man during a series of late-night break-ins throughout the San Fernando Valley in 1991 and early 1992.

Judge John Fisher sentenced Johnson after reading a lengthy list of his prior crimes, which date back to an arrest for robbery in 1972 when he was juvenile. Johnson has spent at least 11 years in prison as an adult. He was paroled in July, 1991--five weeks before the first rape.

After the sentencing, Fisher commended the victims who testified with “courage” and “great dignity,” and the Los Angeles Police Department, which compiled evidence to “clearly” show Johnson’s guilt.

During a trial that began Jan. 11 and was interrupted by the Northridge earthquake, a jury heard evidence that included a positive identification by one victim, a fingerprint that was found at one scene, and stolen property from each victim that was recovered in Johnson’s apartment.

But most important, according to Rabichow and to the jurors, was genetic evidence that almost conclusively identified Johnson as the man who raped and sodomized the victims.