Gwinnett Man Convicted Of Sodomy For Group Attack on Woman

NORCROSS, GA — A Gwinnett man faces life in prison after being convicted in a 2013 group sexual attack on a woman behind a restaurant in Norcross.

Marvin Leonel Sanchez, 20, was sentenced Friday to life in prison after being convicted on charges of kidnapping with bodily injury, aggravated sodomy and battery.

In a trial at which the victim was unavailable to testify, Sanchez was acquitted on charges of rape, false imprisonment and a second count of aggravated sodomy.

On September 28, 2013, the victim — a 33 year old woman at the time — was at a Mexican restaurant in Norcross when she asked three young men she met in the parking lot for a cigarette.

Instead, they lured her to a back parking lot where they attacked her, then dragged her to a wooded area where she was brutally beaten and repeatedly raped and sodomized. Sanchez, who was 16 at the time, urinated on the victim during the attack, according to testimony.

After the attack, the woman ran naked to a nearby apartment complex to ask for help.

She had injuries all over her body and a sexual assault exam conducted by a nurse from the Gwinnett Sexual Assault Center corroborated the victim’s version of events.

Unavailable to testify at last week's trial, the victim's testimony from a previous trial was read to the jury.

During sentencing, Superior Court Judge Karen Beyers called it the worst case she's seen in eight years as a judge and many years as a defense lawyer.

She sentenced Sanchez to life in prison on the kidnapping with bodily injury charge and to a concurrent life sentence, with at least 25 years to serve, for the aggravated sodomy.

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