A Franklin County man found guilty of forcibly raping a woman at her home in February 2013 was sentenced to life in prison last week, officials said.

At a hearing on Oct. 27, Franklin County Circuit Judge Terry Dempsey sentenced Richard Edward Agee, Jr., 27, of Russellville, to the maximum sentence of life in prison for his first-degree rape conviction.

Franklin County District Attorney Joey Rushing said the life sentence will run consecutive to the 15 years Agee is already serving on an aggravated child abuse charge.

“We were very pleased with the sentence in this case,” Rushing said.

“Because of his first-degree rape conviction, Mr. Agee could have received anywhere from 15 years to life in prison, and we believe the maximum sentence of life in prison is what was deserved in this case.

“Considering the violent nature of this crime and the aggravated child abuse crime he previously committed, this was somebody that doesn’t need to be part of society.”

A Franklin County jury found Agee guilty on the charge of first-degree rape after listening to testimony from the state and defense during the trial on Sept. 18-19.

The jury deliberated for just under two hours before returning with the guilty verdict.

Records show the charge stemmed from an incident that occurred on February 17, 2013.

According to the facts presented by the state during the trial, deputies with the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office received a call from the victim that day stating she needed law enforcement to come with her to her home because she suspected an acquaintance of hers might be waiting for her at her house.

When the deputies arrived at the victim’s residence, she asked them to wait outside while she went into the home to make sure no one else was there.

Law enforcement said the victim claimed she hadn’t found anyone in her home and the deputies left the scene but continued to patrol the area. However, the sheriff’s office later received a report from the victim stating Agee had appeared at her residence about 20 minutes after the deputies had left and it was believed Agee was already in the home and wasn’t spotted by the victim when she searched her home the first time.

Testimony from the state indicated Agee forcibly raped the victim before leaving the residence.

Defense attorney Rebecca Thomason contended Agee and the victim in the case had consensual sex and had been involved in a relationship for nearly two years.

However, Rushing argued that the relationship had ended prior to this incident and the victim had been forcibly raped.

“These kinds of cases are always difficult because you have one person claiming the sex was consensual and one person claiming that it wasn’t,” Rushing said.

“We had some witnesses who made it apparent that what had happened to the victim had not been consensual, particularly a conversation she had with her boss when she didn’t come into work and she had to answer the phone with Agee still in the room.

“When the boss called and asked her if she was okay, she replied ‘no’ and when she asked if she needed help she replied ‘yes’. When the boss called back a short time later, the victim answered the phone crying and immediately hung up. Those aren’t things that you do after a consensual encounter with someone.”

Rushing said Agee will serve at least 15 to 20 years of his sentence for this crime before he would even be considered for parole.