Because of his long rap sheet, Brian K. Session could face a maximum of seven lifetimes plus another 227 years and six months in state prison if convicted of the 2018 stun gun attack and sexual assault of a Morristown woman, and other charges.
But the 49-year-old Session on Tuesday once more rejected a plea deal that would have sent him away for 20 years, opting for a trial.
Superior Court Judge David Ironson set a trial date of Sept. 21, 2020, after listing each count in a 30-count indictment, and explaining the extended terms possible if Session is convicted and sentenced as a “persistent offender.”
Session “is aware of the plea offer and the ramifications and the exposure that he faces if he goes to trial. But he has consistently indicated he wishes to avail himself of his right to trial,” Joseph Corazza, his third public defender, told the judge, during a hearing conducted via teleconference because of the coronavirus pandemic.
“Do you understand that, Mr. Session, and is that correct?” the judge asked.
“Correct,” the defendant responded by telephone from the Morris County Jail.
The East Orange resident has at least 10 prior convictions since 1990, according to authorities, who say he was burglarizing the victim’s apartment when she returned home from shopping just after 11 a.m. on Jan. 18, 2018.
The woman told police the assailant demanded her credit card and ATM pin, smashed her cell phone and iPad, attacked her with a stun gun, tied her up, and sexually assaulted her. She sustained injuries to her wrist, finger and ankles.
Session told police the victim surprised him during the burglary. He admitted to tying her up, and to carrying a Taser stun gun, but denied the rape, court records state. Authorities announced his arrest two days after the alleged attack.
A May 2018 indictment charged Session with six counts of aggravated sexual assault, two counts of sexual assault, kidnapping, and an assortment of weapons, theft, criminal mischief and burglary charges.
Some of the burglaries were reported at apartments on Ridgedale Avenue in November 2017, others at apartments on Hill Street that December. The alleged sexual assault occurred elsewhere.
Session would have served a minimum of 15 years behind bars had he accepted a deal from the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office, which offered to drop rape- and weapons charges in exchange for a confession to kidnapping and five burglaries.
That offer, rejected previously, remained on the table entering Tuesday’s hearing.
“Well, if he were to take it today, the state would consider accepting it in deference to the victim and not having to put her through this trial,” Assistant Prosecutor Meg Rodriguez told the judge.
“However, the state is ready, willing and able to take this case to trial in light of the proofs that the state has,” she said.
Witnesses for the state will include a forensic nurse, two lab experts and a detective, Rodriguez said. The trial is anticipated to take up to a month to complete. Ironson acknowledged its start could be delayed by the pandemic.
