A Rowlett man who assaulted six women in a one-night crime spree was sentenced Thursday to life in prison by a Dallas County jury.

Reginald Newton, 27, stalked and assaulted the women with a jagged 9-inch knife during a four-hour rampage across Dallas, Carrollton, Garland and Richardson in December.

One victim who was walking home with her boyfriend was punched in the back of the head. He forced another woman to perform a sex act at knifepoint in the back seat of a car.

"Ladies and gentleman," prosecutor Taly Haffar told the jury, "prisons are made for people like him."

On Wednesday, the seven-woman, five-man jury found Newton guilty of aggravated assault, aggravated robbery and aggravated kidnapping. He was given two life sentences for the assault and kidnapping, and 90 years for aggravated robbery.

Another man, Joshua Danzi, who is accused of joining Newton in the crime spree, is awaiting trial.

Some of the victims held hands and cried as state District Judge Susan Hawk read the sentence. Judge Hawk said it was a pleasure to sentence Newton to life.

Newton, with his hands unchained behind his back, dug his fingers into his palms as the sentence was read.

After it was announced, several people, identified by prosecutors as Newton's victims, were allowed to address him.

"You've made me scared of the dark," said one woman, who clenched her fists as she spoke to him. "But you can't hurt us anymore."

The women are not being identified because The Dallas Morning News does not typically identify victims of sex crimes.

Newton's attorney, Ward Maedgen, asked the jury to consider how cooperative Newton was with police when arrested and to look beyond the crimes committed that night. Newton had been living a good life and cared for his daughter, he said.

During the sentencing phase, three of Mr. Newton's family members spoke about how he had been getting on the right track before he moved to Dallas from Louisiana when he was 14.

"He made a bad decision, but he's not a bad person," said his mother, Lucy Newton, who added that her life had been completely changed by her son's acts. "Reginald is a sweet boy."

His father, O.C. Newton Jr., said his son was now back in school, had perfect attendance and was excited about the future. He told the jury his son was capable of rehabilitation upon release from jail and asked them to sentence his son fairly.

Newton drove through at least four North Texas cities in a rented silver Hyundai Sonata car on Dec. 6. The woman he forced into the back seat of the car was dropped off at a warehouse. A forensic biologist testified this week that her DNA was found on Newton's clothing and body, as well as in the rental car.

Prosecutors argued that Newton was not getting back on the right track, and that he had a record of crimes to prove it. In 1999, Newton assaulted two police officers in a Sonic restaurant in Rockwall. On that night last December, he deliberately stalked and assaulted the victims, even following one woman back to her home for 10 minutes, prosecutors said.

Haffar showed the jury the 9-inch serrated knife that Newton used to threaten and cut at least one victim. One of the women who says she was attacked by Newton shook and cried when the knife was revealed.

During a morning break, several victims alerted prosecutors that they noticed Newton writing down notes when he and his attorney were shown a poster with the victims' addresses. After prosecutors alerted Judge Hawk, she ordered the addresses removed from his notepad.