30-year sentence in Internet-linked sex death
From Rose Arce
CNN
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Saul dos Reis appears in the far right of this courtroom sketch.
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A Connecticut judge sentenced Saul Dos Rios to 30 years in prison in the death of a teenage girl he met on the Internet. WTNH's Erin Cox reports (May 7)
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DANBURY, Connecticut (CNN) -- A Connecticut judge Tuesday sentenced a man to 30 years in prison in the death of a teenage girl he met on the Internet.
Saul dos Reis of Greenwich was accused of arranging sex dates over the Internet with a 13-year-old suburban sixth-grader at a local shopping mall. The teen, Christina Long, engaged in pornographic exchanges with him from a computer at her aunt's house, and agreed to meet him several times.
Dos Reis, 25, claimed he did not know she was a minor and that she died accidentally from a undiagnosed heart condition during rough sex.
"Saul has from day one only been concerned with the fact that Christina died," said his lawyer, James Lenihan.
He was convicted on one count of manslaughter and three counts of sexual assault in state court in March.
Dos Reis had earlier pleaded guilty to federal charges that he crossed state lines to have sex with Christina and one other girl in a separate incident. He faces sentencing on the federal charge on July 17.
The case led to a push in Congress for a kids-only domain on the Web.
