YOUNGSTOWN Man who raped girl accepts deal, gets 35-year sentence in prison

The possibility of life in prison was eliminated with the plea agreement.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- William E. O'Neill Jr. wants to go to Texas and look up his family. It's going to take him 35 years to get there.
That's how many years in prison O'Neill is facing for repeatedly raping a young girl. The 42-year-old Himrod Avenue man pleaded guilty last week in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to 11 counts of rape and one count of attempted rape.
Judge James C. Evans set sentencing for Sept. 24 and ordered that a background check be done on O'Neill. O'Neill is being held in the county jail with bond set at $500,000.
O'Neill was indicted by a county grand jury in February 2002 on 25 counts of rape, which would carry a maximum penalty of life in prison if he were convicted.
In exchange for his 12-count guilty plea, prosecutors dismissed the remaining 13 counts and all of the life-imprisonment specifications. The deal recommends a 35-year prison sentence, though the final decision will be up to Judge Evans.
"I was shocked," defense attorney Paul Conn said of O'Neill's acceptance of the plea agreement. "To be quite honest with you, I don't know why he decided to take the plea, but sometimes you just have to let the defendant do what he thinks is best."
What's behind charges
Prosecutors say O'Neill forced a female relative who was younger than 13 to have sex with him numerous times between September 1999 and September 2001. The indictment accused him of one count of rape per month over the 25-month period.
O'Neill told authorities that he awoke on the couch once and found the girl on top of him, having sex with him.
Conn had filed a motion seeking to stop prosecutors from using that statement as evidence had the case gone to trial. A hearing on the suppression was set for last week. Prosecutors told Conn just before the hearing started that they would make a plea agreement if O'Neill would agree to 35 or 40 years in prison.
Conn said he passed the offer along to O'Neill, who agreed to 35 years.
"He wants the whole thing over and done," Conn said. "He wants to move to Texas when it's all done, and find his family."
Conn said that at O'Neill's age, a 35-year sentence isn't much better than life in prison.
"But I guess he's at least got light at the end of the tunnel," Conn said.
O'Neill underwent two court-ordered psychiatric evaluations, both of which deemed him mentally competent to stand trial. O'Neill said he did not believe the first test was adequate to determine his mental state, so he requested the second one.
bjackson@vindy.com