Top Court Tosses 2 Sex Assault Charges for Par-Troy Man

The New Jersey Supreme Court agreed with an appellate court decision overturning a Parsippany man’s conviction on two counts in the 2007 sexual assault of an 18-year-old woman, reported NJ.com.

The state's highest court ruled that 26-year-old Eric Clemente Rangel, an undocumented worker from Mexico, was charged incorrectly because the wrong section of New Jersey's aggravated sexual assault law was applied to the case.

As a result, Rangel's 27-year prison sentence will be reduced.

Rangel, who worked for a Lake Hiawatha pizzeria, was convicted on five charges including first-degree aggravated sexual assault and second-degree attempted aggravated sexual assault after his 2009 trial. Both of those charges were thrown out Monday.

In the 2007 crime, Rangel was said to have attacked an 18-year-old woman and beating her face after she was walking home from a late-night party, according to NJ.com.

Rangel's other three convictions—second-degree sexual assault, aggravated assault and obstruction—remain in place. A new sentencing will take place in the future at Morris County Superior Court in Morristown.

The issue of the charges' approriateness had been addressed by Rangel's public defender back in 2009. Attorney Neill Hamilton asked Judge Salem Ahto during the trial to drop the aggravated sexual assault charge because his client was not accused of assaulting “another person.” Ahto denied Hamilton's request and the sentence stood until Monday's Supreme Court ruling, which found that the section of law used erroneously referred to an assault on “another,” on someone other than the victim.

Monday's ruling made it clear the county prosecutor could have used the aggravated sexual assault charge more successfully had he used a different section of law that allows the more serious charge if there is evidence that a defendant used “physical force or coercion” and caused “severe personal injury” to a victim.