This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
In 2010, as a 3rd District judge weighed a sentence for Azlen Marchet, one of his victims testified that she doubted the serial date rapist could ever be rehabilitated.
The Utah Board of Pardons and Parole apparently has the same concern. The board has decided Marchet will not get an original hearing until April 2047 — more than 35 years from now, when he will be 70 years old.
Marchet was convicted of raping three women andsexuallyassaulting a fourthduring separate trials.
For one victim, news of the decision was a happy surprise.
"When he was convicted of [his] final charge, we definitely had a sense of relief," said the woman, whose name is being withheld. "And knowing now that a hearing is not until 2047 is amazing to me. It makes me happy they realize he's a threat to society and a danger."
While she said she was confident Marchet would remain in prison, she was nervous about having to appear before the board during a victim impact hearing.
"Going in front of him and having to see him brings back those old feelings," she said.
Marchet, incarcerated since 2007, had tentatively been set for a first appearance before the board in November 2014.
But the board decided to proceed sooner with an administrative review of his case. In making its decision, the board noted that Marchet was effectively serving a term of 45 years to life for the rape and aggravated sexual assaults, which occurred between 2002 and 2007.
Marchet was charged in cases involving six women. Some attacks occurred outside local dance clubs. Other women were attacked after accompanying Marchet to his apartment. One assault happened in a hotel stairwell. He was acquitted of charges in one other case and a sixth case was dismissed.
At Marchet's various court hearings, several women testified about the anxiety, anger, depression and post traumatic stress the assaults triggered. One said her "world turned gray."
Marchet claimed the sex was consensual and said the women were "liars." At one hearing, he likened the trial proceedings to a lynching.
At his 2010 sentencing hearing, after some victims asked the judge for a harsh penalty, Marchet referred to the women as "queens of comedy."
"Give yourselves a round of applause for such poignant and captivating speeches," he said mockingly.
The Utah Court of Appeals rejected appeals filed in all four of Marchet's convictions, the most recent denial last month. Defense attorneys had challenged prosecutors' use of other victims' testimony during the trials to show there was a pattern to the attacks.
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