Former Glenbard West football player gets 16 years for rape

Trusting. Bubbly. Naive.

Cook County prosecutor Maria McCarthy used those adjectives to describe the Rolling Meadows sophomore who got into a car with former Glenbard West High School football players Pierre Washington-Steel and Demarco Whitley on Jan. 29, 2010.

Weak. Powerless. Stupid.

That’s how the now 17-year-old said she felt after being raped by Washington-Steel and Whitley, who was sentenced Tuesday to 16 years in prison for sexually assaulting her.

The victim’s tearful remarks came during the sentencing hearing for Whitley, convicted last month of four counts of criminal sexual assault, a class 1 felony. Cook County Judge Thomas Fecarotta referenced Whitley’s lack of criminal background when he imposed the minimum sentence. Fecarotta also ordered Whitley to participate in a sex offender rehabilitation program and register as a sex offender upon his release.

Whitley must complete at least 85 percent of his sentence before he is eligible for parole.

Acknowledging that no sentence can restore the victim’s innocence or her former happy-go-lucky demeanor, Fecarotta said he hoped the girl and her family will recover.

Whitley and Washington-Steel were involved in a car crash shortly after the assault. Washington-Steel, whom prosecutors named as a deceased co-offender, died from his injuries several days later.

Apologizing “to the family and anyone who was hurt,” Whitley insisted, “I’m not that type of person ... I would do anything to change this.”

“I’m sorry,” said Whitley, 19, before bowing his head and breaking down.

The victim said she considered Washington-Steel a friend, and agreed when he invited her to hang out that day. She said Washington-Steel and Whitley, whom the victim had never met, picked her up at her home and drove her to a nearby parking lot where they assaulted her. The victim testified the attack made her fearful and unable to sleep and caused her to miss several months of school.

“I didn’t want to get out of bed. I felt like a disgusting person,” she said.

Even after undergoing counseling, she says she still suffers from nightmares and flashbacks and is not the same person she was. She requested a lengthy sentence so Whitley “can’t do to other girls what he did to me.”

“I want to be stronger and move on with my life. I want to be able to trust people again,” she said. “I didn’t know the defendant; I didn’t even know what his name is. I know that what he did will impact me forever.”

“That’s what rape does ... It is a complete and total violation of a woman’s body, her mind and her soul,” said McCarthy, arguing for a substantial prison sentence for Whitley, whom she described as a “predator.”

“Demarco Whitley will walk out of prison someday. But (the victim) will never be free of this crime,” McCarthy said.

Defense attorney Donna Rotunno denied her client is a predator.

“He’s a teenager who made bad judgments, bad decisions and bad choices ... everyone, including Demarco Whitley is sorry for that,” said Rotunno.

She argued 16 years is a substantial sentence that nearly equals Whitley’s age at the time of the assault.

Calling her client a good person with a loving and supportive family, Rotunno disagreed with Fecarotta’s assessment that Whitley displayed no remorse, insisting after the hearing that Whitley was very remorseful. She attributed his “matter-of-fact” demeanor to fear.

“I don’t think he has the maturity or the ability to express to the judge what he wanted to express,” she said.