Serial Rapist Ashley Loses Court Battle

A convicted serial rapist suspected in the 2005 murder of a 14-year-old Albany girl lost in court again — this time on his appeal of prison discipline he received for stabbing correction officers. Darius Ashley, 41, who is serving a 45-year sentence at maximum-security Upstate Correctional Facility in Franklin County, failed to move the Appellate Division of state Supreme Court, Third Department, which ruled against him Thursday in a 5-0 decision. Ashley — the attacker in a series of knifepoint rapes in Albany and Schenectady in 2005 — violated prison disciplinary rules while at Elmira Correctional Facility in September 2014. The decision said Ashley "moved to the back of his cell, removed an ice-pick-type weapon from his pocket and attacked the correction officers, including stabbing one of them seven times." Officers subdued Ashley, placed him in restraints and discovered a "cutting-type weapon consisting of a flat piece of metal sharpened on one edge" on his bed, the decision said.