Ben Thompson
A man found guilty of raping children was given the longest sentence in US history by an Oklahoma judge.
Charles Scott Robinson was found guilty on six charges of child sexual abuse on December 14, 1994.
The jury recommended that he serve 5,000 years in prison, as they were unable to sentence him to life without parole.
District Judge Dan Owens chose to give Robinson this sentence consecutively rather than concurrently and handed him 30,000 years, meaning the 30-year-old would not be eligible for parole until he was 108.
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Judge Owens said: "By doing that, I think I can assure that you will spend the rest of your natural life in the confines of the Department of Corrections."
Robinson already has previous convictions for burglary, attempted burglary, concealing stolen property and possession of a stolen vehicle.
He is serving his sentences as six life terms, each worth 45 years. Even if he were to be paroled on his first count after 15 years, he would still have to wait another 13 to 15 to be paroled on his second count.
And even if Robinson got parole for each of his charges, he would still remain in prison for 78 years.
His sentence of 30,000 years is the longest in US history given to a single person on multiple counts.
The jury at Robinson's trial had expressed frustration with what they believed to be lenient sentencing.
Jury foreman Laura Bixler said at the time: "All of us have read in the paper about early release. We've seen too many instances of it.
"We can't control what happens on Dec. 22 with the (formal) sentencing or what the Pardon and Parole Board may do, but by God we can send a message to the offender that we are not going to tolerate it. We don't want him to have a chance of ever getting out again."
Other American criminals slapped with lengthy sentences include Terry Nichols, who received 161 life sentences for his part in the 1995 Oklahoma City Bombing.
Nichols had helped Oklahoma City Bomber Timothy McVeigh construct the bomb that caused damage to more than 300 buildings and left 168 people dead, including 19 children.
Another criminal serving a lengthy sentence is Michael J. Devlin, who was handed 74 life sentences after he was found guilty on multiple counts of kidnapping and abusing children.
With each life sentence being 30 years long and an additional 2,020 years, Devlin has an eye watering sentence of 4,240 years behind bars for his crimes.