06/04/2009

Associated Press

A man accused of raping a 62-year-old woman in a Cottage Grove church has accepted a plea deal that would let a state forensic psychiatrist decide if he should go to prison or be placed under the control of Oregon's psychiatric review board.

An attorney for Eric H. Perino, 34, submitted a plea petition to Lane Circuit Judge Gregory Foote Wednesday. In it, Perino acknowledged that prosecutors could prove enough facts to obtain a verdict of guilty or guilty but for insanity on charges of rape and sodomy.

Under the deal, Perino faces a maximum 10-year prison term if the psychiatrist finds he was able to understand the law at the time of the attack, The Register-Guard newspaper reported.

Lane County Judge Gregory Foote accepted the petition but continued with a stipulated facts trial until the psychiatrist can evaluate Perino.

Prosecutor David Schwartz told Foote that Perino arrived at the church on Sept. 14, 2007, looking for food and clothing. The woman, who was working late, provided it and also let Perino play the church's piano and a guitar.

At about 11 p.m., the prosecutor said, the woman told Perino she was closing up for the night and it was time to go.

"He turned off the lights, grabbed her from behind and said 'Don't fight me or I'll kill you,' then sexually assaulted her," Schwartz said.

The prosecutor said Perino acknowledged the attack when questioned by Cottage Grove police.

"They reported significant difficulty in keeping the defendant on track with his statement and that he went off on many tangents of seemingly unrelated facts," Schwartz said.

Perino was found unfit to stand trial and sent to the state mental hospital. Defense attorney Terrance Gough told Foote that state hospital officials found Perino "acutely psychotic" when he was committed in October 2007.

After well over a year in the hospital, Perino was returned to the county jail. Lane Circuit Judge Cynthia Carlson ruled April 9 that Perino was fit to stand trial.

Perino nodded as Schwartz told Foote the state could prove facts leading to a verdict of either guilty or guilty except for insanity. Perino later told the judge that he preferred the mental health sentence, but Foote warned that prison is a possibility.

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Information from: The Register-Guard, http://www.registerguard.com