HOUSTON (AP) — A 35-year-old Houston man linked to more than 20 rapes and convicted in seven has been sentenced to seven life terms in prison.

A Harris County jury convicted Marquis Tate of an attack in 2015.

As the trial’s punishment phase was about to begin Wednesday, prosecutors say he pleaded guilty to six other charges of aggravated sexual assault. He received the maximum sentence — life in prison — for each conviction.

Prosecutors say they had a dozen victims prepared to testify against him.

In the case that went to trial, DNA evidence tied him to the rape of a woman who was walking on a Houston road when she was forced at knifepoint into his car, then taken to a secluded area where she was assaulted.

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