Convicted rapist seeks clemency after 7 years

After seven years in state prison, convicted rapist Len Yates is asking for a shorter sentence. Yates was sentenced to 35 years in prison in 1998 for using the "date rape" drug, Rohypnol, to rape at least one woman. Stacey Bullard says after only seven years in prison, justice has not been served. Bullard is nervous about what she`ll say to the Post-Prison Transfer Board Wednesday, but she`s more concerned that it`s enough to keep her rapist in prison. Stacey Bullard can only remember flashes of what happened the night here life was changed forever. "It just faded in and out. I don`t remember anything except for waking up the next morning," Bullard explains of that night in September 1997. That`s the night she met Len Yates. "I thought he was a great guy. He had a lot going for him. He was really handsome. He didn`t need to resort to drugging and raping women at all," she said. But months later, in February 1998, Yates was convicted of slipping her the date rape drug in her drink and then raping her. At the time, Yates said he thought his sentence was fair. "Cause I`m in a good mood," he said while leaving his sentencing in 1998. A reporter asked him why he was smiling. Now, after seven years, Yates says his 35-year sentence is excessive, so he`s asking for executive clemency. In his clemency application, he explains why he`s in prison. "I took a woman home with me from a nightclub and had sex with here while she was incapable of consenting to sex (rape), because she was under the influence of the date rape pill (introduction of contr. subst.)." "My record reveals that I conformed to the punitive rehabilitative apsects of prison. I serve the ADC in with all my heart indicating that I am rehabilitated. The ends of justice have been met and a parole date of 2021 is excessive," he explains his request for clemency. Bullard disagrees, "I don`t think that`s excessive. I think if he had a life sentence that would not be excessive. For what he`s done to me and the other victims, what he has done to our lives." Now the flashes of memory that Bullard lives with, she says, are her own life sentence. "I`m sure the other victims have nightmares every night just like I do. I can`t sleep, can`t eat," she explained. The Post-Prison Transfer Board will hear input from Bullard and other alleged victims at a hearing Tuesday. Yates makes his case at a hearing Thursday at the Wrightsville Prison Unit. Since he`s been in prison, Yates has been doing clerical work with the Department of Religious Services, in the Department of Corrections.