Man now faces six rape charges
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The defendant, Marvin Timothy Swoape, 36, was re-indicted recently on six separate counts of aggravated rape for the alleged incidents of May 2002 involving a family friend. He was originally indicted last year on one count of aggravated rape involving the woman. However, prosecutors decided to re-indict, this time charging each of the sexual acts Swoape is alleged to have committed. The legal move means he could face time on each count.
In the original warrant against Swoape, the victim said her assailant had been staying at her home for about a week after he lost his trailer. She noted her husband was arrested earlier in the day and she and Swoape were sitting around her trailer, trying to figure out how to get her husband out of jail.
It was during the discussion, the victim said Swoape approached her with a veiled threat, telling her he had killed three girls because they turned him down for sex in the past. At that point, the victim said Swoape pulled a pocket knife.
“Bubba took out a pocket knife and put it to my throat,” the victim said. “He told me we were going to turn off all the lights and lock the doors like no one was home. He had me by the hair, leading me around doing this.”
The victim said Swoape forced her to perform several sexual acts during the assault.
According to District Attorney General Dale Potter, the separate sexual acts will each be prosecuted as individual crimes, meaning Swoape now faces six separate charges of rape for the one-night encounter with the victim. Each count carries 15 to 25 years in prison, meaning if Swoape is convicted of each of the acts and given consecutive sentencing, he could face life in prison instead of the maximum 25 years he would have under the original single indictment.
“They are treated as separate crimes under the law,” Potter said. “Each individual act can bring a conviction and sentence.”