Former Student Faces Six Years in Prison for Rape

Former Harvard Dental School student Martin Urban was sentenced to six years in prison last Thursday after being convicted of two counts of rape on June 28, two months after his first trial resulted in a hung jury.

Though his first jury in April did not reach a verdict, the second panel needed just five hours of deliberation before handing down its decision on each of the two counts.

Prosecutors said the alleged rapes were committed on Dec. 20, 2001, when Urban, 30, drove the victim—a friend and classmate at the dental school—home from a party. The victim was asleep in the backseat of Urban’s car before he raped her twice.

The following day, the victim told a friend that she had been raped and went to the hospital for an examination, but a police investigation did not follow until she reported the crime weeks later.

The five-day trial, which was held in Suffolk Superior Court, featured testimony from police, the victim and the victim’s friend, as well as medical evidence.

David Procopio, a spokesperson for the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office, said the office was pleased with the verdict.

“We are grateful that the jury heard all the evidence and answered this horrible, violent crime with a verdict that held the defendant accountable and spoke for this woman who had been victimized,” Procopio said.

Urban went before Judge Elizabeth Donovan for sentencing on July 1. Donovan sentenced Urban to the state’s recommendation of a total of six years in prison for both counts with an additional five years probation. The sentence is significantly less than the maximum 20 years that each count of rape carries. Procopio said that Urban’s lack of a criminal record influenced the prosecution’s decision to seek a lesser sentence.

Urban’s attorney, Roger Witkin, declined to comment.

—Material from the Associated Press was used in this article