A Chester, Pennsylvania man suspected in seven violent rapes will serve 20 years in prison.
On Friday Delaware prosecutors announced that they have accepted a plea deal that allowed Hayim Raison to plead to two counts of Second-Degree rape in exchange for a 20-year prison term.
The plea concluded a years-long effort to solve multiple cold-case rapes. Raison was arrested after DNA tests on previously untested sexual assault kits helped lead to his arrest.
The DNA evidence linked Raison to the rapes of seven women in secluded areas throughout Wilmington between January 2014 and December 2018, according to prosecutors. During many of the attacks, Raison made violent threats towards the victims.
Despite being linked to all seven rapes prosecutors said they accepted the agreement in order to resolve the case with the certainty of guilty pleas and to not put the victims through the difficulty and uncertainty of a trial. Guilty pleas to two counts were accepted after consultation with the victims, according to prosecutors.
During Raison’s sentencing, all seven women were given the opportunity to testify before the judge as part of the sentencing, however, prosecutors did not say how many of them actually testified.
