Sentencing has been reset to June 30 for Jeffrey Marsalis, who was convicted by a jury in Boise in April of raping a woman in Sun Valley in 2005.
Sentencing was earlier set for June 1, but was rescheduled by 5th District Court Senior Judge Daniel Hurlbutt Jr. at the request of Blaine County Prosecuting Attorney Jim Thomas. In a motion requesting the delay, Thomas wrote that he will "be out of state on a personal matter" and that witnesses for the prosecution would not be available on June 1.
Marsalis, 35, remains incarcerated in Boise where sentencing is set to take place. The trial was held in Boise because of concerns about pre-trial publicity in the Wood River Valley.
Following a weeklong trial, Marsalis was convicted of rape after a jury comprising two women and 10 men deliberated for only about two hours. The jury concluded that Marsalis had sexual intercourse with a 21-year-old woman who was incapacitated by either alcohol or a date-rape drug.
"I was extremely pleased with the verdict and look forward to seeing him locked away for many more years to come," Thomas wrote in an e-mail to the Idaho Mountain Express following the guilty verdict. "He is probably one of the most dangerous individuals I have run across in 20 years of criminal practice."
Marsalis was also convicted in Philadelphia in 2007 of two counts of sexual assault and one count of unlawful restraint. He was sentenced to 21 years in prison.
Terry Smith: tsmith@mtexpress.com
