Donald Carl Brown - Gets 56 years under Jessica's Law

Vasquez said the first time he mentioned Brown's name to one of the girls, she threw up.

Brown pleaded no contest in September to 100 counts of first-degree rape, sodomy, sexual penetration and sexual abuse. Brown admitted in a handwritten letter last March that he abused the girls over a six- to eight-month period in 2007 and 2008.

A Multnomah County Circuit Court judge sentenced a 57-year-old Southeast Portland man to nearly 56 years in prison Monday for repeatedly raping and molesting a girlfriend's two young daughters.

Donald Carl Brown said he was sorry for what he did before Judge Stephen Bushong sentenced him under Jessica's Law. The law, passed by Oregon lawmakers in 2006 after a 9-year-old Florida girl was kidnapped, raped and murdered, requires a 25-year minimum sentence for first-degree rape, sodomy or sexual penetration of children younger than 12.

"I don't know why I did this to them," Brown said, in what appeared to be a vague denial of what the prosecutor had laid out in his presentation. "If I would have done the things he said I did, I would ask for the death penalty myself."

Brown pleaded no contest in September to 100 counts of first-degree rape, sodomy, sexual penetration and sexual abuse. Brown admitted in a handwritten letter last March that he abused the girls over a six- to eight-month period in 2007 and 2008.

One week before Portland police learned of the abuse, the girls' mother discovered it. She and Brown told the girls not to tell anyone, but because the girls were showing extreme distress at school, school counselors interviewed the children and learned what was happening. Deputy District Attorney Nathan Vasquez said the girls were wetting their pants and falling asleep at school because nightmares kept them awake.

The district attorney's office considered charging the mother for trying to keep the abuse quiet, but decided against it considering that she was the victim of Brown's violence. Nearly six years of Brown's sentence is for assaulting the mother.

Vasquez said the first time he mentioned Brown's name to one of the girls, she threw up.

Brown's defense attorneys had unsuccessfully asked for an eight-year sentence, saying Jessica's Law is cruel and unusual punishment and would amount to a life sentence for Brown.