Crime

Lynn man sentenced to nearly 20 years in prison for strangling, assaulting woman

Washington Pearson had 197 prior entries on his criminal record before the assault, officials said.

The front of a grey building in Boston with "Suffolk County Courthouse" engraved above its doors.
Lane Turner/Boston Globe

By Emily Spatz

1 minute to read

A Lynn man was sentenced to 16 to 18 years in prison Tuesday for strangling and raping a woman after breaking into her apartment, according to the Suffolk Country District Attorney’s Office. 

A Suffolk County jury found Washington Pearson, 57, guilty on Friday of all charges against him, including 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. 

On Oct. 24, 2022, Pearson used a screwdriver to break into an apartment in Boston’s Jamaica Plain neighborhood where two women lived, according to DA Kevin Hayden’s office. One of the women was home and encountered Pearson in her living room. 

Advertisement:

Pearson strangled the woman to unconsciousness. When she woke up, she found that her pants and underwear had been taken off, according to officials. Pearson then strangled her a second time before stealing her phone, jewelry, and items from her roommate’s bedroom and leaving the apartment. 

Pearson was arrested by U.S. Marshalls in Virginia in November 2022, Hayden’s office said. He represented himself at trial and had 197 prior criminal offenses on his record going back to 1987. He was living in a “residential reentry program” at the time of the attack after being released from prison in July 2022 on “habitual offender convictions” in Middlesex and Norfolk counties, officials said. 

Advertisement:

Pearson was also sentenced to five years of probation after his almost-20 year prison sentence.

“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,” Hayden said in a statement. “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.”

To comment, please create a screen name in your profile

Conversation

This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com