SC ‘monster’ gets life without parole for raping elderly woman

A rapist who police called a “monster” because he targeted elderly women has been sentenced to life in prison without parole after being found guilty by a Richland County jury.

It took the jury just 40 minutes to find Marquille Livingston, 36, of Columbia, guilty of brutally raping an 85-year-old north Columbia-area woman last Valentine’s Day. He also was found guilty of burglary and kidnapping.

It took S.C. Circuit Court Judge Clifton Newman just a few more minutes to sentence Livingston, who also is charged with raping a 70-year-old woman in a separate incident, to life without parole late Wednesday afternoon at the Richland County courthouse.

In remarks to the courtroom, Newman called Livingston’s acts “demonic.”

“Livingston had a past record of violent crimes, and that made him eligible for a life without parole sentence,” said Richland County Sheriff’s Department Deputy Chief Stan Smith. Those crimes were two burglaries.

According to testimony at his three-day trial, Livingston broke into the woman’s apartment home at night and, over a four-hour period, repeatedly raped, beat and cursed her.

Sitting in a wheelchair during Monday’s testimony, the victim gave jurors a harrowing, detailed account of the beatings and rapes that Livingston inflicted on her. Then, Livingston forced the victim into a bathtub and washed her to get his DNA off of her. When he left the apartment, he took clothes and bedding — anything that might have his DNA on it — with him in a plastic bag.

Acting as his lawyer, Livingston cross-examined the victim. At times, the woman, who looked directly at Livingston, tongue-lashed him for asking what she said were stupid, repetitive questions.

“I don’t care how many times you ask, I will swear on the Bible and say, ‘You raped me, you raped me, you raped me!’” the woman told the jury.

Between rapes, Livingston ripped a LifeStation alert button from the woman’s neck and threw it across the room. But he later forgot he had touched the alert button, deputy chief Smith said.

When crime-scene investigators found the alert button, technicians processed it looking for what is called “touch DNA” — skin cells from fingers or hands that are left on everything that people touch. Since Livingston had been in state prison and his DNA was on file, his name came up when sheriff’s department detectives ran the DNA sample through a database of previous offenders.

Investigators also knew Livingston drove a 2007 tan Tahoe that had been seen on neighborhood surveillance cameras.

Once Livingston was identified as a suspect, the fugitive team from the sheriff’s department fanned out in the north Columbia area. Three days after the rape, Livingston was spotted driving down Two Notch Road. Livingston resisted arrest but was taken into custody.

Smith said Livingston didn’t know the victim but had visited a friend in the apartment complex where she lived.

“”He knew about her and had probably identified her as a target,” Smith said.

Before being sentenced, Newman allowed Livingston to speak. To an astonished courtroom, the rapist declared he forgave the judge, as well as prosecutors Luck Campbell and Joanna McDuffie, and hoped the victim and her family would be at peace.

Then, Livingston was led off to prison, where he will spend the rest of his life.

This story was originally published August 23, 2018 at 11:26 AM.