Two men were sentenced Tuesday for crimes they committed against an incapacitated woman who "likely died of alcohol poisoning" while drinking with the men in November 2012, the Anchorage district attorney's office said. Each of the men had earlier pleaded guilty.
On Nov. 30, 2012, Jesse Hess called 911 to report that a woman had died in his bed.
Upon arrival police found the woman dead, partially covered by a sleeping bag, as well as several empty or nearly-empty whiskey bottles and beer cans in the apartment.
Charging documents filed in 2012 stated that Hess, now 33, and his friend George Thomas, now 59, were friends who had been drinking whiskey with the woman at Hess's Tudor Road apartment the night she died.
Police initially charged both men with having sex with the woman after she became unconscious. An updated indictment filed Tuesday said Hess had sex with the woman after she had died, a crime for which he was convicted of misconduct involving a corpse -- a class A misdemeanor. He was also convicted of coercion prior to the woman's death.
Superior Court Judge Michael Wolverton "found Hess' crimes to be among the most serious offenses of their kind," the DA's office wrote. He will spend four years in prison.
Thomas was convicted of sexually assaulting the woman after she had passed out, a felony, and received a 15-year sentence. He'll also have to register as a sex offender for 15 years after he is released from prison.
Both men will serve probation after their release.