07/01/2009

Associated Press

A woman raped inside a Cottage Grove church faced her attacker in court, forgiving him because Jesus said to forgive your enemies.

But she said she will never be able to forget the night Eric Perino grabbed her from behind.

"You took away the sense of security I had," the woman said in a letter read by prosecutor David Schwarz. "You had no right to take my life away from me."

Perino, 34, was sentenced Tuesday to eight years and four months in prison.

Lane County Judge Gregory Foote issued the sentence after reviewing a psychiatrist's finding that Perino, though mentally ill, was able to understand and follow the law at the time of the 2007 attack.

Perino, who was sent to a mental hospital for 20 months after his arrest, waived his right to a jury trial in June. In a plea petition submitted to Foote, he said prosecutors could prove enough facts to obtain a guilty verdict or guilty by insanity verdict.

Schwarz said Perino arrived at the church looking for food and clothing.

A 62-year-old woman working late let Perino inside and allowed him to play the church's piano and a guitar. Prosecutors said Perino raped the woman at about 11 p.m., after she told him the church was closing 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, Schwarz said at a court hearing last month.

Before learning his sentence, Perino apologized to his victim and her family.

"I have had the same thing happen to me," he said. "My judgment was clouded."

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