Former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick's Ex-Brother-In-Law Gets Prison For Rape

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DEDHAM, Mass. (AP) — The ex-brother-in-law of former Democratic Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick has been sentenced to up to eight years in prison for raping his estranged wife.

Bernard Sigh, of Milton, was sentenced Monday in Norfolk Superior Court. He was convicted earlier this month of two counts of rape and several other charges in connection with the December 2017 attack.

Prosecutors asked for up to 22 years in prison and the victim told the judge she was "terrified" of the 67-year-old Sigh.

But the judge, citing Sigh's Parkinson's disease, gave him a lighter sentence.

Sigh apologized in court, saying he was "selfish and thoughtless."

In 2014, Patrick fired the head of the state's Sex Offender Registry Board in part because she questioned why Sigh wasn't required to register for a 1993 spousal rape conviction.