Rapist Draws Eight Consecutive Life Sentences

A former bodybuilder was sentenced to eight consecutive life prison sentences Friday for a 1995 rape attack in which he nearly bit off the victim’s nose.

The sentence imposed by Orange County Superior Court Judge Daniel J. Didier means that Jerry Armstrong, 40, will spend his life in prison, since he would not be eligible for parole until he has served at least 205 years.

Armstrong, who contended he engaged in consensual sex and that the woman was lying, was arrested May 18, 1995, and convicted by a jury last July. The defendant, a former U.S. Marine, has a criminal record that includes a 1989 rape conviction, which landed him in prison for several years, according to court records.

The victim, who was in court for the sentencing, met Armstrong at a bar in Long Beach along with a group of other people. Armstrong later told her the party was moving to a room at a Costa Mesa motel, and they drove there together, according to a court document.

After 15 minutes in the motel room, when no one else showed up, the woman said she grew suspicious and scared and tried to leave. But Armstrong punched her and began sexually assaulting her, according to court documents.

The victim said Armstrong “went crazy” and nearly bit off the tip of her nose after she bit down hard on his tongue in an effort to fend off his sexual advances.

The woman told police she could see the tip of her nose dangling from her face. She said she eventually pretended she was dead after he began choking her, and he left the room, according to court documents.

A probation officer who prepared a sentencing report called the rape a “vicious, sadistic and unprovoked attack upon a young woman whose biggest mistake was to trust the defendant when he told her others would be arriving at the motel for an after-hours party.”

“It is indeed miraculous that this young woman survived this attack, although her life has been irrevocably altered,” Deputy Probation Officer Leticia Chamberlain wrote.

The woman was left with bite marks and scars all over her body, and has been through at least two surgeries.