20-year term for night of terror, rape in St. Paul

They've worked together for years with victims of horrific crimes, and on Friday, prosecutor Susan Hudson and victim's advocate Anne Hunter were on hand for a case they agreed was "one of the worst."

A rapist, Kimanie M. Carter, 25, was sentenced in Ramsey County District Court to 20 years in prison -- a term he agreed to under a plea agreement negotiated in April.

Carter, who has run afoul of the law since he was 9 years old, took part last August in a home-invasion robbery during which he and two others terrorized a couple in St. Paul's Highland Park area. He then raped the woman at gunpoint while his accomplices left with the man in pursuit of cash.

Outside of the courtroom after the sentencing, Hudson said the attack was random and senseless -- and the rape, specifically, she said, "was just so gratuitous to what was going on."

The victims, who did not attend Friday's sentencing hearing, wrote a letter to District Judge Lezlie Ott Marek, but it was not read in court.

They have been traumatized, Hunter said.

Hudson said that one of the reasons for the county attorney's acceptance of the plea deal was to spare the victims from testifying.

About 1 a.m. on Aug. 26, Carter and his alleged accomplices -- Derrean D. Hogan, 21, and Paul D. Rattler, 20 -- brandished a handgun as the couple entered their apartment building in the 1700 block of Norfolk Avenue.

They took $8 from the man and forced the couple to take them to their apartment, where they searched through drawers, cabinets and closets. Hogan and Rattler then had the man drive them to his bank to withdraw $500 from a cash machine. Carter stayed behind and raped the woman. She was 53 at the time.

On Friday, Hudson told the judge that Carter was an "extremely dangerous young man" who could become even more dangerous if he were not to undergo counseling while in prison.

His attorney, Connie Iversen, described Carter as the product of a dysfunctional upbringing. She said he had no opportunity for what one might call a "conventional lifestyle," and she was not sure, she said, if he ever could conform.

Carter, she added, was frustrated that his accomplices were unlikely to be serving as much time as him.

As for the alleged accomplices:

Hogan pleaded guilty to aiding an offender as part of a deal calling for a two-year prison term to run concurrently with a sentence awaiting him for an alleged Minneapolis home invasion last year. In that case, he pleaded guilty to three counts of aggravated robbery, and is to be sentenced on Sept. 17 in Hennepin County District Court.

Rattler faces two counts each of first-degree robbery and kidnapping in the Highland Park case, as well as first-degree assault and gun charges in a Hennepin County case that stems from a Jan. 10 shooting.