197 convictions but this one to last
A Lynn man with nearly 200 prior convictions was sentenced to 16-18 years in jail yesterday after being found guilty of breaking into a Jamaica Plain apartment and sexually assaulting the tenant.
“This is a fitting sentence for a man who put a woman in an extremely dangerous situation, strangled her twice, sexually assaulted her and then robbed her and her roommate of numerous personal items,” said Suffolk DA Kevin Hayden.
On Friday, a Suffolk Superior Court jury found Washington Pearson, 56, guilty of all charges related to the 2022 break-in to a Jamaica Plain apartment rented by two women. Judge Rosemary Connolly sentenced Pearson, who has 197 prior convictions, to 16-18 years in state prison yesterday, the DA’s office said in a release.
On Oct. 24, 2022, Pearson had been recently released from prison on habitual offender convictions in Middlesex and Norfolk counties and was living in a residential reentry program, the release stated. That day, a woman testified, she came into her living room and found Pearson armed with a screwdriver, having used the tool to break into the apartment.
Two women rented the apartment, but only one was home at the time.
Pearson strangled the woman until she lost consciousness, the woman recounted, and when she woke up her pants and underwear had been removed.
The man strangled her until she passed out a second time and left the apartment, according to the DA’s release. He took her phone and jewelry, along with other items from her roommate’s bedroom.
An arrest warrant was issued, the release stated, and Pearson went on the run. U.S. Marshalls found the suspect in Virginia in November 2022.
Pearson was charged with armed assault in a dwelling, armed robbery, assault with intent to rape, indecent assault and battery, two counts of strangulation, larceny from a building, and armed breaking and entering during the daytime putting a person in fear.
Hayden spoke previously on the “great courage” it took for the woman to come forward and testify in front of the jury.
“Our basic sense of safety is rooted in our ability to be safe and secure in our own homes, and this man’s actions, in multiple egregious ways, shattered that basic sense of safety,” Hayden said.