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UTAH STATE PRISON — A man sentenced to prison for the 1996 rape of a University of Utah student will get another chance at parole, but not until he's 73 years old.
The Utah Board of Pardons and Parole has ordered Donald Eugene Younge, 50, to undergo a mental health status update while in prison as well as the sex offender treatment program before another parole hearing is held in February 2040.
In 1996, Younge kidnapped, beat and raped a 23-year-old U. student walking home from class. For many years, Younge was known to investigators only as "John Doe, unknown male" based on DNA collected at the scene. In 2002, a national database came up with a DNA match for Younge, who was in an Illinois jail facing rape charges. When that case fell through, Younge was extradited back to Utah to stand trial.
He was convicted in 2009 of two counts of aggravated sexual assault and robbery. His combined sentences equated to 31 years to life in prison.
Younge was also charged at one time with the 1999 stabbing death of U. theater student Amy Quinton, 22, in her Salt Lake apartment. It was a capital murder case for which prosecutors said they would seek the death penalty. But in 2012, prosecutors were forced to dismiss the case due to evidentiary concerns. Quinton's mother told reporters she was convinced that Younge is responsible for her daughter's death.
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Rape victim pleads to keep her attacker in prison
A woman raped 20 years ago near the University of Utah pleaded with the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole on Tuesday to keep her attacker in prison.During his parole hearing earlier this month, the woman who Younge assaulted near the U. campus pleaded with the parole board to make him serve his full sentence.
"Please don't schedule any more hearings and please impose a life sentence," the woman pleaded.
Younge, for the first time, admitted at the hearing that he was responsible for the attack, even though he added that he didn't remember it.
"I don't actually remember the incident because it was 20 years ago. But reading through the information, I know that what I did was wrong," he said.
