NEW YORK — A serial rapist who apologized for attacking actress Kelly McGillis in the 1980s was sentenced Tuesday to 50 years in prison for the assault of two women a decade ago.
Leroy Johnson, 39, has spent much of his life in prison — 7 1/2 years for the rape of the "Top Gun" actress and four for threats against two former presidents.
Last year, DNA evidence linked Johnson to the 1996 crime in which prosecutors said he forced his way into the two women's Greenwich Village apartment, then raped, sodomized and robbed them at knifepoint.
His trial lasted two days, and jurors convicted him after deliberating a total of five hours this month.
The judge called the attacks "horrific" and "sadistic," and sentenced Johnson to 25 years for each assault.
"You stole their sense of security; you stole their jewelry; you stole their money; you stole their bodies, and you stole their spirit," Judge Renee White said.
Prosecutor Martha Bashford alluded to the 1982 attack on McGillis and her roommate without mentioning the victims' names. She told the court that that crime was remarkably similar to the attack for which Johnson was being sentenced Tuesday.
After his conviction, Johnson had released a statement through his lawyer, Bryan Konoski, apologizing for the attack on McGillis when he was just 15. McGillis has spoken openly about the attack, which occurred while she was in her 20s and studying acting in New York.
Konoski said his client had severe psychological problems and required a cocktail of psychoactive medicines to remain mentally stable.
"He has been described as being among the most severely ill," Konoski told the judge. He has schizo-affective disorder, bipolar type, Konoski said, meaning some of his perceptions are inconsistent with reality.