BENTONVILLE -- Charles Allen Rickman blamed the drugs for his brutal beating and rape of a 69-year-old woman. The woman credited her religious faith for her survival.
"I would not want this to happen to anybody else," she said.
The Sentence
In addition to four life sentences, the jury also recommended Charles Allen Rickman serve 20 years and pay a $15,000 fine for a battery conviction.
Source: Staff Report
A jury Thursday found Rickman, 31, of Gentry guilty. It took the jury 30 minutes to recommend Rickman serve life sentences for aggravated residential burglary, kidnapping, and two rape counts in the Oct. 3 attack on the woman in her home.
Testimony during the trial revealed Rickman attacked and blindfolded the woman before repeatedly beating and raping her for more than five hours.
Benton County Circuit Judge Brad Karren followed the jury's decision and ordered the sentences be served consecutively.
Carrie Dobbs, deputy prosecutor, urged the seven-men and five-women jury to recommend life sentences for Rickman, telling them if Rickman was sentenced to 40 years in prison he could be released when he was 59 years old.
"The only way to know he will never to do this again is to put him in a position where can no longer do it," Dobbs said.
Rickman didn't show his victim any mercy, and he didn't deserve any mercy from the jury, she said.
Rickman's victim returned to the witness stand Thursday to share how her life is forever changed. She lived alone before the attack and did volunteer work, took care of her lawn and traveled to other countries for missionary work. Now she will need someone's assistance for the rest of her life.
The woman lost her arms and legs as result of the attack. She said she was in the hospital for three months and, at first, couldn't move because she was so weak. She spent 100 days in a rehabilitation facility and now lives in an assisted living facility.
One woman on the jury wiped away tears as the woman testified.
Rickman's mother testified about her son's struggles.
Neva Rickman said her son had a learning disorder, suffered from depression and had attempted to hang himself a few years ago.
"I don't know what happened," Neva Rickman said about the attack. "It's totally out of character for my son."
She also told jurors another son's accidental shooting death in 1999 impacted Rickman and her entire family.
Charles Rickman told the jury a man sexually abused him when he was 13 years old, and he first started using methamphetamine when he was a senior in high school.
Rickman claims he was under the influence of methamphetamine and alcohol when he attacked the woman and again referred to the attack as "the accident" while testifying Thursday. He made the same reference Wednesday from the witness stand.
Rickman said he wanted the jury to know he's a kind and respectful person.
"The way I was that night was not me," he said. "I am not like that on a regular basis."
Rickman said he feels sorry for the woman.
Sam Hall, one of Rickman's attorneys, asked the jury to sentence Rickman to a term of years instead of a life sentence. He encouraged jurors to remember Rickman is a human being who committed a terrible act.
"If you have it in your heart, show Allen a little bit of mercy," Hall told jurors. "He certainly doesn't deserve it."
NW News on 07/13/2018