PALMER — A man who admitted to raping an adult relative in March 2009 received a term of 30 years in prison Tuesday.

Gus Macauly Jr., 34, of Palmer, was arrested after the woman called to report the rape the evening of March 28. The troopers who investigated the scene of the crime described obvious signs of struggle — picture frames and figurines broken, a phone ripped out of the wall.

Macauly, the woman who would become his victim and another man had apparently been drinking that night, first at the home where Macauly and the woman lived on Strand Drive in Palmer, then at a downtown bar, according to an affidavit investigator Sherry Ferno filed in the case. When they got home, the woman told troopers she was highly intoxicated. Macauly asked her for sex. She declined, and he forced it on her, troopers reported Later, when she went to another room to try to get some sleep, Macauly attacked her again, trying to cut her jeans off. The woman told troopers she tried to fight him off. Macauly had apparent injuries at the time — bite marks on each shoulder, scratch marks on his neck, a split lip and bruises on his arms. The woman had injuries of her own, telling troopers she’d been slapped and punched during the assaults.

Both sides had basically agreed on the 30-year sentence before Tuesday’s hearing. Still, Assistant District Attorney Paul Roetman got up before Superior Court Judge Gregory Heath to say why it was justified. He described the facts behind the case as “disturbing,” and noted that Macauly’s life leading up to the assault was filled with booze and abuse.

“Certainly his upbringing played a large part in the conduct that we are seeing here, but that’s really no excuse,” he said.

Macauly’s attorney, Krista Maciolek, said her client didn’t want to drag anyone involved in the case through a trial and was paying a steep price for his crimes.

“For anyone to stand here and say Mr. Macauly is going to go to jail for 30 years and not blink is difficult,” Maciolek said.

When Macauly’s turn to speak came, he declined to say anything.

Heath, in agreeing to the 30-year sentence, also noted Macauly’s past. He pointed to a manslaughter conviction Maciolek said previously in the hearing was the result of a drunken driving incident.

Though it wasn’t a violent attack, Heath pointed out that drinking caused the death of one of Macauly’s friends and still “the light didn’t go on.”

The judge said the sentence was an appropriate way to isolate Macauly from society.

“As the state said, this is the sad culmination of a long life of alcohol and violence,” Heath said. “He did an extremely violent act ... in a drunken rage and now he’s going to have to pay the consequences.”

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.