Former ICED EARTH Guitarist Sentenced

Esteban Parra of The News Journal reports that former ICED EARTH guitarist Ernie Carletti (mug shot, promotional photo) declined to show remorse this morning before being sentenced to 33 years in prison for kidnapping, raping and torturing a University of Delaware student in 2003. "I feel, your honor, that anything I say is not going to be able to contribute," 32-year-old Carletti told Superior Court Judge Jan R. Jurden after she gave him a final opportunity to speak. Carletti mumbled some other words, which could not be understood. The victim, a former University of Delaware student, testified in November that a stranger forced her into his car at gunpoint as she waited for a ride at the Burger King parking lot on South Chapel Street in Newark on May 22, 2003. He handcuffed, shackled and blindfolded her as he drove to his home in Elkton, Md., she said, then took her into his house and raped her. The victim testified Carletti ordered her to call him "master," and she heard him playing with chains. He then put a gag in her mouth, wrapped a chain around her neck and shackled limbs and began lifting her off the table, she said. After she nearly passed out, the woman said, the stranger returned her to the car and drove her back to Newark. On the way, she said, the stranger replaced the handcuffs with duct tape, apologized to her and told her not to tell anyone. He then slowed the car and pushed her out, leaving her hogtied and blindfolded on West Main Street. Carletti admitted at trial to abducting and shackling the woman, as well as taking her to his home, where he hogtied her. But he insisted that he did not rape her, and continues to maintain his innocence on that charge. "It was disappointing that he was not remorseful and did not, at least, apologize to the victim," prosecutor Donald R. Roberts said after the sentencing hearing. When first interviewed by police, Carletti said he did not kidnap the woman. He later admitted to doing so when investigators found his fingerprints on duct tape recovered from the abduction. Carletti, a guitarist who played with the bands NAUGHTY NAUGHTY and ICED EARTH, was charged last year in another sexual assault that occurred when he was in high school. That case will not be prosecuted. Even though Roberts asked the judge for a life-in-prison term, he said the state and family were pleased with the sentence. "The defendant will be, at a minimum, 64 years old when he gets out of jail," he said. Watch Ernie Carletti performing a guitar solo: