Rederick Louis Melton from Michigan resentenced for group attack on students and rape

An inmate in Michigan convicted of a horrifying home invasion and assault of college students, which led to a rape has been resentenced to the same amount of time in jail.  

Rederick Louis Melton, 24, was sentenced in 2013 for the crime committed in June 2012, which a judge called one of the most terrifying cases he's ever tried.  

'I’ve been on the bench almost 30 years now. Outside of murder cases, this and one other case are the worst I’ve seen,' Kent County Circuit Court Judge George S. Buth said, according to the Detroit Free Press.

He added that details of the crime 'would really turn anyone’s stomach if they read the facts'.

Rederick Louis Melton (pictured), 24, who was sentenced in 2013 for the home invasion and assault of several college students in 2012, has been resentenced to the same amount of time 

Rederick Louis Melton (pictured), 24, who was sentenced in 2013 for the home invasion and assault of several college students in 2012, has been resentenced to the same amount of time 

In 2013, Melton was sentenced to a minimum 43 years in prison and this week he was told the sentencing would stand. 

He was resentenced due to a Michigan Supreme Court ruling in July 2015 that determined the mandated prison terms of sentencing guidelines are unconstitutional. 

Instead, the mandated prison terms should be looked at as advisories, according to the ruling.  

In Melton's case, he was sentenced to between 18 and 40 years for first-degree criminal sexual conduct, 18 to 40 years for armed robbery and 7 to 20 years for home invasion, according to the Free Press.

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The sentencing remains the same this time as it was the first time he was sentenced by Buth. 

They must also be served consecutively, meaning one after the other.  

Melton is among five people who were charged in the crime for which he has been convicted. 

A party had been held in a home near Grand Valley State University’s Grand Rapids campus, the Free Press reported. 

When the party ended, one of the victims answered a knock on the door to find two men saying they had left a wallet inside. 

As that happened, three others entered the house from the back.

Several residents at the house were beaten and robbed. One told the court in 2012: 'I was figuring to die.' 

The home invasion and assault that Melton was a part of took place on Veto Street NW near Seward Avenue in 2012

The home invasion and assault that Melton was a part of took place on Veto Street NW near Seward Avenue in 2012

An 18-year-old woman who lived at the house was repeatedly sexually assaulted during the invasion. 

Buth said the rape 'went way beyond what you’d normally see with a sexual assault'.

'This was very devastating on all the victims here, but especially this young lady.

'Fortunately, she has a good support system, but she will be suffering the effects of this the rest of her life, I’m sure,' Buth told Melton. 

The men took turns assaulting the 18-year-old  before police inevitably arrested the five people involved, which included a 14-year-old.   

'You escalated a home invasion into armed robbery by using weapons and assaulting the people in the house, tying them up, pistol whipping them, threatening them, terrorizing them.

'And then to brutally sexually assault, repeatedly, the 18-year-old young lady,' Buth told Melton. 

Melton will remain at the Ionia Correctional Facility where his earliest release date will be considered in 2055.   

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