Rapist gets two life sentences plus 163 years

Editor's Note: This story has been corrected in reference to the second victim below. She was raped in Stoddard and not Cape Girardeau County.

BLOOMFIELD, Mo. -- Convicted rapist Steven Clark Rendleman was sentenced Tuesday in Stoddard County to two concurrent life sentences, along with 30 years for kidnapping, 15 years for assault and 118 years for armed criminal action.

The life sentences were for forcible rape and sodomy, and he has no possibility of parole.

Although Rendelman's trial was heard on a change of venue in Franklin County in May, Judge Gael Wood traveled to Stoddard County to announce the verdict Tuesday because of an agreement with attorneys and to accommodate the victim's family.

As Wood read the list of sentences for Rendleman, now 53, his most recent victim sat in the front row, and seated at her side was another victim of Rendleman's -- a woman he was convicted of having raped in 1989 in Stoddard County. The second victim was 12 years old at that time.

While testimony involving two prior convictions was not allowed during the trial, Wood had ruled that documents involving those convictions would be entered during the sentencing phase.

That's when the latest victim had her say about what happened to her in March 2012 in Advance, Missouri.

"I think you, Steven Rendleman, are not capable of understanding the significance of how many lives you have affected or how many people you have hurt," she said in court. "That would require a conscience, and unfortunately, I am afraid that is something you are lacking."

Rendleman also had an opportunity to speak after sentencing Tuesday. Against the advice of his attorney, he told the court he had not been appropriately represented. Wood dismissed that and other claims as insufficient reason to adjust any proceedings.

The jury that deliberated Rendleman's fate in Franklin County took less than an hour to render a verdict.

"It was a good, clean trial, even without being able to enter [Rendelman's] prior rape convictions," said Stoddard County Prosecuting Attorney Russ Oliver after the sentencing.

In closing, Rendleman's most recent victim thanked a support team of family and friends who have been at her side throughout his court appearances since the spring of 2012.

Finally, directing her comment toward Rendleman, she said, "I do not wish ill upon you, Steven Rendleman. I pray that you seek God in your time of need. Lord knows, where you are headed, you are going to need him."

Rendleman was convicted and sentenced for kidnapping the victim from a bar in Advance and taking her to a cemetery in a remote area of northern Stoddard County, where he raped her repeatedly. When he was found with the victim about midnight at the cemetery by Stoddard County deputy Tim McCoy, Rendleman fled, and a chase ensued. The deputy used a Tazer gun to subdue Rendleman before placing him under arrest. Rendleman has been in police custody ever since, and now will be transported to a state prison for the remainder of his life.