Ex-Cable Guy Gets Life In Prison For Murder, Rape
CHICAGO (STMW) -- Anthony Triplett wore a cable repairman's uniform and carried a tool kit when he came to his victim's home, but those "trappings" cloaked a diabolical intent, a fuming Cook County judge said Friday in handing down a life term for the convicted murderer.
Judge Kevin Michael Sheehan called Triplett's methods "cold and calculating," when — under the guise of installing high-speed internet — he strangled, sexually assaulted and robbed Urszula Sakowska in her Southwest Side home in December 2006.
And Sheehan reserved some of his harshest words for Triplett's own lies on the witness stand during his May trial, teh Sun-Times is reporting.
"You were dancing like an ant on a sugar cube," Sheehan said. "... It was ridiculous."
It took a jury six hours to convict Triplett of the brutal beating and choking of Sakowska, 23, who inadvertently welcomed her killer into her home in the 6100 block of South McVicker, prosecutors said.
At trial, prosecutors presented evidence both of Sakowska's blood on Triplett's jacket and his DNA in her mouth. And, prosecutors say, Triplett raped and strangled another woman, Janet Ordidge, in her Hyde Park home just weeks before the Sakowska slaying. That case has yet to go to trial.
In court Friday, Brian Sexton, the lead prosecutor on the case, urged Sheehan to throw the book at Triplett.
"He is one of the most dangerous individuals you are going to see in this courtroom, and that's saying something for 26th Street," Sexton said.
When it was his turn, Triplett — his voice thick with quiet emotion — praised prosecutors' efforts, but said they'd fingered the wrong man.
"For me to be called a rapist and a murderer, that's an insult to my mom who raised me," he said.
One of Triplett's attorneys called his client's behavior the night of the killing "an aberration" in an otherwise law-abiding life.
Greg Magiera, Sakowska's fiance, called it devastating.
"My life will never be the same as it was before," Sexton said, reading Magiera's prepared statement. "No one will ever be able to replace my Urszula. She was the one and only. She was my angel."
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2013. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
