Today, Senior Judge Richard A. Lewis sentenced Christian Bonnette, age 37, to serve 13½ to 35 years in a state penitentiary for assaulting on three nurses in August of 2018.  On February 1, 2022, a Dauphin County jury convicted Bonnette of attempted rape, and three counts of aggravated assault.  On August 20, 2018, Bonnette lured a nurse into his room at the Hershey Medical Center and immediately began to assault her.  As Bonnette strangled the victim, two other nurses attempted to help her break free.  Bonnette then turned his attack on the other two nurses.  During the attack, he was able to pull the scrubs down on the one nurse.  The other nurses struggled to keep the naked defendant from raping her as she was pinned on the ground.  The nurses resisted the attacks until security and police arrived and took Bonnette into custody.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Gettle requested that the Court conclude that Bonnette presents a future threat to the public. “The best predicter of future behavior is past behavior.  This defendant has a history of homicidal ideation and has admitted to killing animals.  He has shown how violent he can be with this attack.  He has expressed no empathy for these victims, has shown a total lack of remorse, and has denied any responsibility for his actions."  Senior Judge Lewis gave reasons on the record for imposing a sentence at the top of the Sentencing Guidelines range. “This is one of the most savage attacks I’ve heard about in a courtroom.  I agree with the prosecution--you are a serious public safety risk.  It is hard to imagine the fear and terror these nurses felt.  [These are] people who have dedicated their lives to caring for people.”  One of the victims gave the following victim impact statement. “I will never be the same person because this horrible man took something from me that awful night in August.  People like this need to be locked up and not permitted to be amongst society.”

Judge Lewis also found that Bonnette should be classified a sexual offender under Megan’s Law. As a result, after his release, Bonnette must register with the Pennsylvania State Police for the rest of his life.  Officer Kevin Leiss of the Derry Township Police Department investigated the case.