A Rowan County Superior Court jury wasted little time Tuesday deciding James Kenneth
Sackett, 35, should spend a long time in prison for attempted rape and kidnapping of a
woman at the Pro USA Car Wash on East Centerview Street in China Grove on Nov. 2, 1998. Both the trial and jury deliberation were
short, according to China Grove Police Chief Michael Bentley.
The jury reached a unanimous
guilty verdict on both counts, and Sackett was classified as a Level 4 offender.
Level 4 requires a mandatory
minimum combined sentence of 117 to 150 months for the attempted rape, which is to start
at the expiration of a sentence he is now serving in Gaston County, and 25 to 30 months on
the kidnap charge, which will start at the expiration of the attempted rape sentence.
The total sentence is a minimum of
11 years, 10 months, to a maximum of 15 years.
Sackett gave notice of appeal.
Kannapolis police apprehended
Sackett, who was charged with committing a number of sexually-related crimes, on Nov. 5,
1998. At that time, he gave a written confession admitting to the incident in China Grove,
and the China Grove police subsequently got grand jury indictments for both charges.
Sackett has been convicted of
three sex offenses in North Carolina and served three years in Colorado for an offense
involving his baby daughter. |
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