A district judge has sentenced a Fort Yates man to 30 years in prison for gross sexual imposition.

South Central District Judge Bruce Romanick sentenced Tilmer Everett, 35, to 30 years in prison Tuesday at the Burleigh County Courthouse.

Everett was charged with the Class AA felony on May 31 after an 18-year-old Bismarck woman told police Everett had raped her on May 30. Officers took the woman's report while investigating another reported sexual assault that they believed the 18-year-old woman may have witnessed.

A12-person jury convicted Everett of the offense, which is punishable by up to life in prison, after a three-day trial in December.

Everett maintained his innocence throughout court proceedings, saying he had consensual sex with the 18-year-old woman. He accused police, prosecutors and Romanick of working against him while making several profanity-laced statements during the 30-minute sentencing on Tuesday.

"All Iknow is that me and that girl were together, and everything got shifted and twisted," he said.

Burleigh County Assistant State's Attorney Brandi Sasse Russell, standing in for Assistant State's Attorney Cynthia Feland, said the state recommended a sentence of 20 years with five years suspended and five years of supervised probation.

Everett has a lengthy criminal history, with convictions involving weapons, assaults, violations of restraining orders and criminal trespass, Sasse Russell said.

Romanick ordered a presentence investigation, along with a sex-offender assessment after the trial.

"My understanding is Mr. Everett refused to cooperate with either the assessment or the PSI,"Romanick said.

He said the evaluators compiled the report by checking Everett's record and using what information was available.

Everett said he didn't cooperate because "this whole case is incorrect."

"I'm not a sex offender - that's what I told them," he said. "I plead the Fifth Amendment on you guys."

Two attorneys have been appointed to work on Everett's case since his May arrest.

Susan Schmidt was the first attorney appointed to the case. She filed a motion to withdraw as counsel on Aug. 31. In the motion, she said Everett had yelled and cursed at her, refused to work with a private investigator and wanted her to subpoena witnesses without giving her any reasons.

Todd Schwarz was appointed to work on the case after Schmidt was removed. He filed a motion to withdraw as counsel on Oct. 31, citing similar reasons as Schmidt. He stayed on the case but filed another motion to withdraw on Nov. 30, because Everett wanted to represent himself.

Schwarz remained on the case as "stand-by" counsel during Everett's three-day trial.

Everett represented himself at Tuesday's sentencing. Flanked by at least five sheriff's department officers at a time, Everett's testimony focused on his belief that he is innocent and had ineffective defense counsel. Romanick repeatedly directed Everett to testify on his opinions on sentencing, not on the case itself.

"You've been convicted by a jury of 12,"Romanick told him. "You're going to be sentenced now."

Romanick told Everett that he had never heard an expert testify to the brutality that he heard of during Everett's trial.

Officers had to restrain Everett after the sentence was handed down. Romanick told him he has 30 days to appeal to the North Dakota Supreme Court.

"You made a big mistake," Everett said as he was escorted out of the courtroom.

(Reach reporter Jenny Michael at 250-8225 or jenny.michael@;bismarcktribune.com.)