Posted on: January 6, 2025, 11:20h.
Last updated on: January 6, 2025, 11:33h.
A New York man whose sexual assault of a Bally’s Atlantic City housekeeper hastened the enactment of legislation that mandated wearable panic buttons for New Jersey hotel workers could see his sentence reduced.
In April 2022, a jury found Jamel Carlton guilty of aggravated sexual assault, sexual assault, burglary, aggravated assault, and criminal restraint in connection with the 2018 attack in a Bally’s hotel room.
The “persistent offender” was subsequently sentenced to 42 years in prison by Atlantic County Superior Court Judge Pamela D’Arcy.
‘Rights Violated’
Now, a state appeals court has ruled that a jury can decide whether to shorten Carlton’s sentence. The court found that D’Arcy violated the defendant’s Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights when choosing his prison term, NJ.com reported.
Carlton’s charges would have typically warranted a term of 10 to 20 years, but prosecutors demanded a harsher sentence because of the defendant’s criminal record and the aggravating circumstances of the crime.
But it should be down to a jury, not a judge, to determine whether or not an extended sentence is applicable, the appellate panel ruled.
Meanwhile, the panel found that the defendant’s prior felony convictions for crimes committed in his home state shouldn’t have been factored into his sentencing.
Double Assault
On Feb. 10, 2018, at 5:30 a.m., Atlantic City police arrested Carlton for domestic assault shortly after Bally’s security officers had to restrain him from attacking his 41-year-old girlfriend, according to court records.
The victim bore signs of physical injury and received medical treatment at the scene, the arrest report stated.
After being charged with simple assault, Carlton was released at about 9 a.m. with a summons to appear in court at a later date.
Somehow, he was allowed to return to the hotel, where he pushed a 51-year-old housekeeper into a room and sexually and physically assaulted her, according to court filings. His second victim needed hospital treatment for her injuries and was too traumatized to return to work.
Carlton was identified as a suspect from a security video. When police officers later spotted him walking along Atlantic Avenue and attempted to arrest him, he fled, leading police on a blocks-long chase before he was eventually apprehended.
Afterward, Ben Albert, an official with Local 54 of the Unite-Here union, told NBC that housekeepers had become “enraged” by Carlton’s crime and demanded action.
New Jersey was the first state to pass a bill that made wearable panic buttons mandatory for staff at all hotels with more than 100 rooms.
