A Hennepin County jury found a 38-year-old Minneapolis man guilty of rape, kidnapping and aggravated robbery Tuesday in connection with a carjacking last January at a south Minneapolis gas station.
Carl Stanley Williams was convicted after a three-day trial on all charges, including two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and one count each of kidnapping and aggravated robbery. The jury deliberated for about an hour and a half.
Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty thanked the jury for holding Williams accountable for the "horrific, violent crime" and thanked the responding officers who quickly tracked him down after the victim called 911.
"This crime strikes at the heart of community fears about safety. The victim was simply putting gas in her car when Mr. Williams attacked her," Moriarty said in a statement Tuesday.
According to the charges, the victim called police to report that she had been carjacked and abducted from the BP gas station at 2000 S. 3rd Ave. She had just finished putting gas in her car when she was approached by Williams. He was armed and wearing a ski mask when he ordered her into her car's passenger seat and drove away while continuing to hold her at gunpoint.
Williams demanded her purse, and after 10 minutes of driving, he pulled over and forced her to perform oral sex on him while still holding her at gunpoint. The victim, "determined that she was going to try to escape while this was happening," charges said, took a stun gun from her pocket. It didn't work, but she was able to escape. She ran down the block and called out for help.
A Good Samaritan on the street brought her inside his home and called police. Williams ditched her car, which was located in a nearby alley, and fled. He returned to the same gas station, where police responded to additional reports of carjacking attempts by a man matching Williams' description.
Officers found Williams lurking near the gas pumps and arrested him. He had the victim's debit card in his pocket, charges say.
His attorney, Assistant Hennepin County Public Defender Bryan Leary, said that Williams is looking at a prison sentence of about 30 years, and that his client is innocent.
"The hurt and trauma that young woman experienced is not made any better by the jury convicting the wrong man," Leary said in a phone interview Tuesday.
Williams will be sentenced April 27.
