Ricky Zuber was 17 years and seven months old when he escaped from a state institution and instigated two gang rapes in 1981, according to court documents.
TRENTON -- A state appeals panel on Friday ruled that a convicted rapist's prison sentence of more than 100 years was not cruel and unusual punishment.
The panel rejected the inmate's claim that a 2010 U.S. Supreme Court ruling rendered his sentence illegal.
Ricky Zuber was 17 years and seven months old when he escaped from a state institution and instigated two gang rapes in 1981, according to court documents.
Ricky Zuber In November of that year, he led a "vicious gang rape" of a woman whose car broke down and in December, while still at large, "instigated and participated in" the gang rape of a 16 year old girl on her way to school, the documents show.
In two different trials in Essex County, he was convicted as an adult on a litany of charges ranging from robbery and kidnapping to aggravated sexual assault. A judge initially imposed consecutive sentences totaling 150 years in prison with 75 years of parole ineligibility, which was later reduced to 110 years with parole eligibility after 55 years.
In 2010, Zuber claimed his consecutive sentences were illegal under the U.S. Supreme Court decision, which found the Eighth Amendment forbids a life sentence without parole for juvenile offenders except in cases of murder.
He argued his sentences violated the cruel and unusual punishment clause of both the federal and state constitutions. Zuber, 53, will be in his early 70s by the time he is eligible for parole.
But the three-judge appellate panel found Zuber's sentence "is not the functional equivalent of life without parole, because it gives him a meaningful and realistic opportunity for parole well within the predicted lifespan for a person of defendant's age."
Katherine Carter, a spokeswoman for acting Essex County Prosecutor Carolyn A. Murray, said her office was "pleased with the court's decision."
Kevin Walker, a spokesman for the state Office of the Public Defender, which represented Zuber, said they were reviewing the decision and weighing whether to petition the state Supreme Court.
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