The 50-year-sentence offered to a Woodbine man accused of raping a 20-year-old woman and holding her hostage for 13 hours last summer is unfair to the public and the victim, incoming State's Attorney Jerry F. Barnes said yesterday.
"My bottom-line offer would have been a life sentence. Period," Mr. Barnes said in denouncing the plea bargain that Ralph Paul Ash is expected to take during a pre-trial motions hearing Jan. 4 -- the day after Mr. Barnes takes office. "You have a violent, repeat offender. I just feel sorry for the victim."
According to sources close to the case, Mr. Ash will plead guilty to first-degree rape and to a felony burglary charge in the hostage case and plead guilty to a second-degree sex offense charge from an unrelated case involving his wife.
Under the arrangement, Mr. Ash would receive a life sentence for the rape charge, and concurrent 20-year sentences for each of the other two felonies. All but 50 years of the sentences would be suspended, the sources said.
The deal was struck Monday at a meeting in Judge Luke K. Burns Jr.'s chambers. Mr. Ash's attorney, assistant public defender Judson K. Larrimore, Assistant State's Attorney Kathi Hill and Mr. Barnes were present at the meeting, Ms. Hill and Mr. Barnes said.
Mr. Barnes, who said he had no legal standing to intervene in the negotiations, remained silent during the meeting, he said.
But after the plea agreement became public, the incoming prosecutor lambasted the deal as too lenient. He said that because the deal apparently has been made and accepted, there is little -- if anything -- he can do to change it once he takes office Jan. 3.
"As a prosecutor, my hands are tied," Mr. Barnes said.
Ms. Hill and her boss, departing State's Attorney Thomas E. Hickman, defended the plea agreement, accusing Mr. Barnes of grandstanding.
"It's incredible to me that he would complain," Mr. Hickman said. "He's never had a sentence in any case he's handled even approach 50 years. It was a good plea. It saves the victim from having to come to court and relive this whole terrible incident."
As an assistant Carroll state's attorney, Mr. Barnes prosecuted a 1983 rape case in which Mr. Ash was found not criminally responsible and sentenced to 2 1/2 years in a mental hospital.
In 1981, Mr. Ash was found guilty of second-degree rape and was sentenced to the time he spent in jail awaiting trial.
Ms. Hill, who said she recently spoke to the woman Mr. Ash is accused of abducting and raping July 13, pointed out that the plea agreement included the longest jail term ever accepted by a defendant in her 12 years as a prosecutor.
"I don't understand the criticism of the plea," Ms. Hill said. "We've consulted with [the victim]. This serves the public and the victim well. He'll be in for what could very well be the rest of his life. I'm proud of this plea."
If his case were to go to trial and if he were convicted of all 26 charges against him, Mr. Ash could be sentenced to two consecutive life terms plus more than 100 years.
Mr. Barnes and an attorney hired by the abducted woman's mother said that the state's attorney's office treated the woman poorly during the early stages of the case.
"This is an office that holds itself out as an advocate for victims," said Clarke Ahlers, the Howard County attorney hired by the abductor's mother. "The least they could have done was keep her happy enough so that she doesn't feel the need to see a lawyer."