Santa Rosa man sentenced to more than 20 years for attempted rape

<p>A Santa Rosa man who broke into an elderly woman's home earlier this year and tried to rape her was sentenced Thursday to more than 20 years in prison.</p><p>Michael Korell, 49, received a sentence of eight years plus 14-to-life for the April 3 attack in southwest Santa Rosa. </p><p>Korell's conviction in 1995 of a sexual assault that occurred about two miles away added seven years to his sentence.</p><p>In handing down the punishment, Judge Gary Medvigy called Korell a “very, very violent man” with a long history of felony convictions who deserved to be behind bars.</p><p>“You've really put the community in jeopardy and caused a lot of pain and suffering,” Medvigy told Korell, who stood beside his lawyer, a set of horns tattooed on his forehead.</p><p>Korell did not make a statement before he was led away.</p><p>He was convicted in September of felony assault to commit rape and oral copulation on a 71-year-old woman during the commission of a burglary on Wilfred Avenue.</p><p>The woman testified in the trial that Korell entered her home, slapped her across the face and tried to rape her in her bedroom. She identified him as one of several men who had previously come to her house collecting scrap metal.</p><p>Prosecutors used DNA evidence to connect Korell to the crime.</p><p>Deputy District Attorney Jason Riehl said the same type of evidence showed Korell was involved in another Santa Rosa sexual assault 14 years earlier. In that case, he was sentenced to more than 12 years in prison.</p>