Alabama man sentenced to 198 years in prison for brutal rape, kidnapping

NOTASULGA, Ala. — An Alabama man has been sentenced to 198 years in prison for the kidnapping and brutal rape of a 68-year-old woman in a saga that began on New Year’s Eve 2018.

Terrance Devonte Cobb, 22, of Notasulga was slated to stand trial Monday on charges of first-degree rape, sodomy, kidnapping and shooting into an occupied vehicle, but he unexpectedly agreed to enter a blind plea in the case that “spanned three Alabama counties and 12 law enforcement agencies,” AL.com reported.

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According to WSFA, a blind plea agreement does not include sentencing recommendations or dropped charges that are typical in most plea agreements.

Chief Deputy District Attorney CJ Robinson told the TV station that the violent encounter began when Cobb’s vehicle collided with the victim’s van. He then reportedly fired a stolen gun into the woman’s vehicle, forced her to drive to a secondary location and sexually assaulted her.

The gun, which a ballistics report later linked to the holes in the victim’s car, was recovered from Cobb’s residence, and Robinson said forensic evidence from the victim’s rape kit the state was prepared to admit at trial matched Cobb’s DNA profile, WSFA reported.

Investigators also found $278 from the victim’s stolen purse in Cobb’s bedroom and her AARP card in his pants pocket, in addition to 41 stolen IDs in his nightstand linked to unrelated crimes, AL.com reported.

“We had ballistic evidence. We had forensic evidence. We had direct evidence and circumstantial evidence,” Robinson said. “We also had a threat from when (Cobb) was in court previously when he said he should have just killed her.”

Cobb’s combined 198-year sentence, handed down immediately following the plea, covers all five charges and includes 99 years for first-degree rape and 99 years for first-degree sodomy to be served consecutively. He was also sentenced to 99 years on the first-degree robbery charge, 30 years for the second-degree kidnapping charge and 30 years for shooting into the victim’s van. The latter three charges will be served concurrently with the consecutive rape and sodomy sentences, WSFA reported.

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