PROVO — Shoulders shaking with sobs, Robert Bosserman pleaded guilty Tuesday afternoon to attempting to rape his 15-year-old neighbor.
"I understand you are upset today," 4th District Court Judge Steven Hansen told the 26-year-old man.
"Yes I am," Bosserman said, his voice shaking.
"Do you feel you're emotionally so upset you're not able to comprehend and waive these rights?" Hansen asked. "You're OK?"
"Yes, I am," Bosserman said.
Bosserman continued crying as the prosecutor read details of the attack.
"On March 2 ... the defendant entered into a building without permission for an unlawful purpose, and while in there he attempted to commit a rape of an individual by trying to have intercourse with her without her consent," prosecutor Doug Finch read.
The girl testified at a previous hearing that she awoke early in the morning to find Bosserman intoxicated and on top of her, with her clothes off. She told him to go, and he ran out of the house.
Police responded to the girl's Orem home and got a description of Bosserman. They went to talk with him in his nearby home, and his mother said he had come in late from being at a bar and was downstairs asleep on the couch.
Police went down to talk with him and found clothes matching the victim's description beside his couch. He was interviewed and later arrested.
"This is about as far across the line and reprehensible as it gets," Finch said. "It only would have been worse if he had physically assaulted her, beat her up."
Because of that, Finch said he didn't feel he could charge him with less than an attempted rape charge, which is still a first-degree felony and carries the potential for three years to life in prison. Bosserman also pleaded guilty to a third-degree burglary charge.
Bosserman's attorney Matthew Howell left quickly after the hearing with Bosserman's family, who was visibly upset with the entry of plea and didn't want to comment.
Finch said he was impressed with Bosserman's family and that they were gracious to him in a recent meeting, especially Bosserman's mother, whom Finch called as a witness during the preliminary hearing.
"She's trying to do the best she can," he said. "I consider her a victim too, it's just horrible."
Finch said he was surprised by Bosserman's willingness to plead to a first-degree felony, as well as his intense remorse.
"To me, it looked like he was sincere," Finch said. "With most people you don't see that much emotion."
During the last hearing on April 15, Howell asked for an extension to consider DNA evidence that had just come back from the state crime lab. But it turns out the DNA evidence didn't influence the plea deal, Finch said.
"It didn't help or hurt anybody," Finch said.
Bosserman will be reviewed by Adult Probation and Parole and receive a psycho-sexual evaluation before he returns on June 10 for sentencing.
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