Teenage defendant in South Florida gang rape case sentenced to 30 years in prison

Teen sentenced to 30 years in Florida gang rape

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A teen who pleaded guilty to gang raping a South Florida woman and beating her young son has been sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Seventeen-year-old Avion Lawson pleaded guilty in August and testified against three other suspects in the 2007 attack. The others have all received life in prison.

Lawson, who was sentenced Monday, had faced a maximum 11 life sentences plus 50 years.

Lawson and the three other defendants were all teenagers when police say they barged into a 35-year-old woman’s apartment, raped her repeatedly, beat her 12-year-old son and then forced her to perform oral sex on the boy.

The victims were doused in chemicals to clean the crime scene, and police say their attackers discussed setting them on fire before fleeing.