ROCKFORD, Ill. (WIFR) – A Rockford man convicted of sexually assaulting and beating a woman in 2022 could be over 100 years old before he gets out of prison.
Richard Wooten, 58, was sentenced to 50 years in prison for two counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault and one count of aggravated battery. He was found guilty by a jury in 2023.
On June 22, 2022, Rockford police were called to the 1100 block of Third Avenue after receiving a report of an unconscious, badly beaten woman lying on a mattress in an alley. The woman had multiple injuries, including a brain bleed, and was put into a medically-induced coma for several weeks while she recovered. A sexual assault kit was also completed on the woman.
The day after the attack, detectives questioned Wooten and noticed blood on his shirt. Officers collected a DNA sample from Wooten and the shirt, and results from the Illinois State Police Crime Lab showed the swabs from the shirt matched the woman’s blood. Lab results also matched Wooten’s DNA to the sexual assault kit…