Man accused of raping 85-year-old woman could face life in prison

The prosecutor in the case of convicted felon accused of beating and raping an 85-year-old woman during a Columbia home invasion said Wednesday she intends to seek a life sentence without parole.

Marquille Rondale Livingston, 36, is charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct, first-degree burglary, kidnapping and larceny in connection with the Feb. 14 attack at a home off Parklane Road and S.C. 277.

Livingston was expected in court Wednesday but waived his bond hearing, meaning he or his attorney wanted to wait and have the hearing in six months.

“He falls under the ‘life without parole’ statute of the two-strikes law,” Senior Assistant Solicitor Luck Campbell said in court. “We will be making that decision in the next two months and will provide notice at the appropriate time of the intent to seek life without parole, if we get a conviction.”

South Carolina’s “two-strikes law” mandates a sentence of life in prison without parole for anyone convicted of two “most serious” offenses, which include first-degree burglary and first-degree criminal sexual conduct. Livingston already has a conviction for first-degree burglary from 2005.

Richland County sheriff’s officials have said Livingston forced his way into a home on Brighton Hill Road in the early-morning hours of Feb. 14, then beat and repeatedly sexually assaulted the 85-year-old victim. Deputies say he took cash and the victim’s watch when he left.

The woman used her medical alert bracelet to call for help, but when an agent with the alert company answered, Livingston “took over the conversation and told them everything was fine,” the sheriff’s department has said.

The victim and her family were in the courtroom Wednesday.

Livingston has twice pleaded guilty to burglary charges, and avoided prison time in 2014 after being charged with aggravated domestic violence but pleading guilty to a misdemeanor assault charge.

This story was originally published February 21, 2018 at 11:13 AM with the headline "Man accused of raping 85-year-old woman could face life in prison."