Derrick Randall Gosnell didn't bat an eye last night as he heard the jury's verdict: guilty in the sexual assault of two Hispanic motel housekeepers.
The 26-year-old was sentenced to spend 86 years in prison by a Spotsylvania County jury just hours after they convicted him of forcible sodomy and attempted rape of one woman, and assault and attempted rape of another.
Gosnell acted as his own attorney for almost the entire two-day trial, and maintained to the jury the whole time that the victims, who only spoke Spanish and testified through a translator, were lying.
"I've been waiting for a long time for this day to come," he said shortly before the jury deliberated on the case.
Afterward, he had little to say and expressed only sadness when his family members testified at his sentencing hearing around 7 p.m. last night.
"I did not cry when y'all came back with a verdict," he said defiantly, still claiming the victims were lying. "I will not cry when you come back with a sentence."
He never denied being at the motels where the assaults were reported, but instead told the jury that the charges were a set-up.
"I did not say I was not there. I'm simply saying that what these women have to say is a lie," he said.
One of the victims Gosnell was convicted of assaulting worked at the Super 8 on U.S. 1.
The woman told the jury that Gosnell came into the room she was cleaning on Aug. 30 of last year with his penis exposed and shut the door.
He then proceeded to take her into the bathroom by her shoulders and force her to perform oral sex on him, she said.
Gosnell's DNA was later found to match the sperm on the victim's shirt, hands and mouth.
But, Gosnell said, that did not prove she was attacked, claiming that the interaction was consensual.
He told the jury that he and the victim had a sexual relationship for a couple of months before that day and that she had been his drug dealer to support his "pothead" habit.
The victim though, denied ever using drugs or knowing Gosnell prior to the assault.
The defendant went on to tell the jury that he also knew the second victim because of his drug habit.
In that case, the victim, also speaking through a translator, told the jury that she was vacuuming a room at the Heritage Inn in Spotsylvania on Sept. 7.
While she was cleaning, she heard someone in the room and looked up to see Gosnell.
She said she couldn't understand most of what he was saying except for the word "sex" while he pointed to the bathroom.
She said she became afraid and screamed "no, no, no."
He then raised a hand as if to hit her, she said, so she screamed some more and he fled the room.
Gosnell was captured on the motel's security camera in that incident, but told the jury he had an explanation for why he was there.
He said he had gone to that motel to look for an acquaintance of the first victim who might be able to give him drugs.
Prosecutor Amy Harper refuted Gosnell's testimony in closing arguments.
"This is absolutely ludicrous. She did not consent," Harper said to the jury. "This man preyed on these women. He preyed on them because of their nationality."
Gosnell testified on his own behalf yesterday afternoon, at which time he called on his standby counsel, public defender Wendy Harris, to step in as his attorney.
He had previously argued to Judge David H. Beck that Harris should be removed from his case and requested to represent himself.
Gosnell continued to make all arguments in the case, but left motions up to Harris.
Beck dropped two charges that had been pending against Gosnell based on a motion by Harris. The charges were abduction of the first victim and attempted abduction of the second victim.
The jury took an hour and a half to deliberate after hearing almost two full days of testimony, and returned with their guilty verdict on all four charges.
After finding him guilty, the jury learned that Gosnell not only had two prior felony convictions in Stafford for stealing a firetruck in 2003, but 91 prior juvenile convictions for a variety of crimes, including several counts of indecent exposure and one attempted aggravated sexual battery.
Gosnell's sister also testified on his behalf at his sentencing hearing that he'd had a hard childhood. She said they had been taken by their parents at a young age and abused by their grandparents. She said through tears that she did not believe he had gotten over that trauma, but believed he was still a good person and a good father to his two children.
Gosnell faced a maximum sentence of life plus 21 years in prison, but the jury gave him less: 70 years for the forcible sodomy, 10 years for the attempted rape of the first victim, five years for the attempted rape of the second victim and twelve months for the assault.
Beck will formally sentence Gosnell July 22. At that time, the judge can decide to decrease the sentence, but not increase it.
Gosnell also has a case pending in Fredericksburg Circuit Court on more charges related to the sexual assault of a motel housekeeper there that is alleged to have occurred in the same time period as the Spotsylvania crimes.
Ellen Biltz: 540/374-5424
Email: ebiltz@freelancestar.com