A man prosecutors believe is a serial rapist with as many as 11 victims in Utah was sentenced Friday to five years to life in prison, but not before he launched into an angry, profanity-laden tirade in court.
During the tirade, he denounced his female accusers as liars and racists who falsely accused him because he is African-American.
The sentence is to run consecutively with another five-to-life sentence he is currently serving for raping another woman.
A jury in January convicted Azlen Adieu Farquiot Marchet, 31, of rape, a first-degree felony. The Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office also has three other sex-related cases against him that are still pending.
The victim in the latest conviction told 3rd District Judge Vernice Trease that being raped by Marchet has profoundly diminished her life. She has trouble trusting people, cannot focus on work, panics often and, as a widow and sole provider for her children, struggles to be a good parent because there are times when she realizes she has been "emotionally distant" from her children, which has hurt them.
"It has kept me from my life," she said. "I'm here today because I don't want this to happen to other women."
While the woman was speaking, Marchet rolled his eyes, shook his head back and forth and periodically turned to smile and whisper to family members in the courtroom, despite efforts by law enforcement officials to make him face the judge.
His attorney, Scott Wilson, told the judge that Marchet did not want a summary of what occurred in this case discussed at the sentencing and asked to have this sentence run concurrently with the other rape sentence.
Prosecutor Michaela Andruzzi said Marchet lacks any remorse or empathy, despite a "long, long history of being accused of this," starting with an incident in a Colorado elementary school and a suspension from high school for sexually abusing a mentally challenged girl — a situation Marchet characterized as a "misinterpretation."
Andruzzi read aloud from an Adult Probation and Parole report that said, "This agency feels this defendant's self-righteous and self-absorbed egotism has developed into what is now an obvious self-implosion. It is sad an individual actually believes he can repeatedly victimize innocent women and think there is nothing wrong with this type of behavior."
When Marchet addressed the judge, there were intervals when he was courteous and well-spoken, but he often switched quickly into street slang and profanity.
He suggested the women who have accused him of rape are conspiring against him, that prosecutors had rigged the case and the entire process reeked of the racism evident in the 1920s when black men were lynched by mobs after being falsely accused of attacking white females.
"Their witnesses were very well-coached," Marchet said of the prosecutors. "I felt like I got sent to a gunfight with a plastic spoon."
His voice rising as he referred to the women, he said it was wrong "to see them come here with a bunch of propaganda and lies" and then "magically they have uniformity" despite what he claimed were previously conflicting statements made by the women.
"Why don't we hang me from a tree outside the courtroom?" he asked.
"I maintained my innocence when this happened five years ago," he said. You know — they're all liars! You know — (expletive) them!"
Trease said the report, a psychosexual exam and Marchet's comments on Friday persuaded her that until Marchet can take responsibility for his actions, he continues to be a danger to the community and this sentence should run consecutively with the other.
Andruzzi later said Marchet's courtroom conduct corroborates everything victims have told her about him. "He can be kind and charming, but when he doesn't get what he wants, the switch gets flipped."
Andruzzi said prosecutors know of 11 women who reported sexual attacks by Marchet to police in Utah, but not all are willing to go to trial. "And that doesn't include those in other states."
E-MAIL: lindat@desnews.com