Attorney General Peter Kilmartin announced that Superior Court Associate Justice Judith C. Savage today sentenced Jason Nickerson (DOB: 01/05/81), with a last known address of 24 Roberts Street, Woonsocket, to 60 years, with 50 to serve, on each count of the four counts of first degree sexual assault he was found guilty of by a Providence County Superior Court jury on April 11, 2012; sentences to run concurrent. In addition, Justice Savage sentenced Nickerson to 20 years to serve on the one count of assault with a dangerous weapon, to run concurrent. Nickerson was ordered to undergo sex offender, substance abuse, and, anger management counseling, and must register as a sex offender upon his release from the ACI.
During the 10-day trial, the State proved beyond a reasonable doubt that on July 1, 2007, Nickerson forcibly raped a 16-year-old girl after she accepted a ride from him.
At approximately 12:30 a.m., as the victim was walking home from a friend's house, the defendant drove up alongside her and offered her a ride. Once inside the vehicle, Nickerson drove the girl to a parking lot and sexually assaulted her multiple times, choked and beat her before finally allowing her to leave.
The victim, badly bruised, was picked up by a good Samaritan who called for help. She was later treated at Hasbro Children's Hospital, where a rape kit was performed and DNA samples taken. Results showed an unknown single male donor DNA profile along with the DNA profile of the victim. The unknown male profile donor was entered into the CODIS database in 2007.
The investigation remained unsolved until January, 2011 when Providence Police received a report from the Rhode Island Department of Health indicating that the unknown single male donor profile matched that of Jason Nickerson, whose DNA was taken and entered into the database after pleading guilty to and being sentenced for an unrelated felony.
With the new information, Providence Police contacted the victim, who identified Nickerson as her attacker.
Providence Police Detective John Muriel led the investigation. Special Assistant Attorney General Shannon Signore prosecuted the case for the Office of Attorney General.