A man convicted of raping and attempting to kill a Pine Hills woman was sentenced on Tuesday to life in prison, where he is asking to live in an isolated cell for his own safety.
Bruce Whitehead, 55, was convicted last week on charges of sexual battery, attempted murder, armed kidnapping, robbery and aggravated battery and assault after a 2022 incident involving a woman he picked up at an Oak Ridge strip club.
Whitehead forced the woman, who testified last week, out of the car into a wooded area at knifepoint. He raped and tried to stab the woman to death.
Earlier this year, according to an arrest affidavit, Whitehead asked another inmate to “take care of” the woman in an apparent effort to block his prosecution.
On Tuesday, his attorney said that Whitehead has received death threats and asked Circuit Court Judge Diego Madrigal III if he could be isolated in prison.
Madrigal said he had no power to help Whitehead, who had declined to speak Tuesday until his attorney made the request.