TEMPLE SENTENCED TO 100 YEARS

December 15, 2010
Contact: [email protected]

(Walhalla, SC). Following a short deliberation, an Oconee County jury has found Dennis Temple guilty of 2 counts of First Degree Criminal Sexual Conduct, Kidnapping and Grand Larceny. The Honorable Cordell Maddox sentenced Temple to a total of 100 years.

On May 9, 2010, at approximately 4:30 p.m., a 19-year old Clemson student arrived at her storage unit in Oconee County where she planned to place the last few items she had remaining in her dorm. Within minutes, Dennis Temple approached her, offering to sell her shoes. When she declined the offer and went to her car, she realized she had left her storage unit door open. As she attempted to close the door, the defendant assaulted her. He then placed a belt around her neck and dragged her to his storage unit. The victim blacked out and when she woke up, she was lying on a mattress in the defendant’s storage unit. Temple bound her with sheets and placed a sock in her mouth before raping her. The victim’s ordeal continued for approximately 9 hours until the defendant left the storage facility and the victim was able to locate a cell phone and call 911. Law enforcement and medical personnel arrived shortly thereafter and the victim was taken to Oconee Medical Center. Deputies arrested the defendant after the victim identified him in a photo lineup. Subsequent DNA testing by South Carolina Law Enforcement Division also linked the defendant to the crime.

“It is rare and unfortunate that the victim in a case such as this has to face questions from her attacker in court, as this young lady did,” stated Solicitor Chrissy Adams. “She has shown amazing courage from the day of her attack through today when she was able to see Temple get the justice he deserves. The sentence handed down by Judge Maddox today will ensure that Dennis Temple will spend the rest of his life in prison. No one else will have to suffer the trauma that she endured at the hands of Dennis Temple.”