The two Plainfield men who sexually assaulted a severely mentally disabled woman in 2011 before leaving her outside in a snowstormhave been sentenced to a combined 38 years in state prison, acting Union County Prosecutor Grace H. Park announced Monday.
State Superior Court Judge Stuart Peim on Friday sentenced 35-year-old Edward Woodson to 20 years in state prison and 35-year-old Marcal Campbell to 18 years. Under the provisions of New Jersey’s No Early Release Act, both defendants will be required to serve a minimum of 85 percent of their sentences before becoming eligible for parole, and each also must register as a sex offender under Megan’s Law and undergo parole supervision for life.
Woodson and Campbell were convicted of first-degree aggravated sexual assault and first-degree aggravated sexual assault of a mentally disabled victim in February following a five-week trial before Peim. Woodson was additionally convicted of a charge of first-degree kidnapping.
The date was January 31, 2011 when Woodson lured the victim from her home under the pretense of participating in Bible study and with the promise of returning her home safe, according to Union County Assistant Prosecutors Jessica Kahn and Estrella Lopez, who prosecuted the case. Instead, Woodson took the woman back to his home, where he and Campbell took turns sexually assaulting her in the basement over the span of more than an hour, Kahn and Lopezsaid.
During the early morning hours of the next day, the defendants kicked the victim out of the house with no cell phone, money, or any means to get home. She was discovered hours later, after which the victim was given medical attention and told authorities what had happened the night before.
A joint investigation involving the Prosecutor’s Office’s Special Victims Unit and the Plainfield Police Division resulted in Woodson and Campbell being identified as suspects, and they were both arrested in February 2011.