NEW ORLEANS — An Orleans Parish Jury has indicted a man Thursday accused of attacking and raping a woman in Algiers earlier this year.
District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro's office said 63-year-old James Young has been charged with first-degree rape following an attack on May 3.
Authorities say Young was drinking with a 51-year-old woman around 9 a.m. near the intersection of General De Gaulle and MacArthur Boulevard when he asked her to perform oral sex on him. When the woman refused, investigators say Young punched her several times and forced her to perform the sex act.
Prosecutors say Young strangled the woman and punched her again before walking away. The woman told a friend about the attack and called police.
Cannizzaro's office said Young was arrested 30 minutes after the attack and said that the sexual encounter was consensual.
Young faces a mandatory life prison sentence if found guilty of the rape charge.
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