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Eric Rengal, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, was convicted in 2009 of chasing an 18-year-old woman through a Parsippany, New Jersey, neighborhood two years earlier, beating her and raping her, in a case where her recorded 911 call became key evidence.

According to news accounts, the woman was walking the last few blocks to her home in the Lake Hiawatha section of Parsippany-Troy Hills around 3 a.m. on April 22, 2007, after leaving a friend's party. Rengal ran her down before she reached her door. She managed to reach 911 during the assault, and the call was recorded.

A Morris County jury convicted Rengal in 2009, and he was sentenced to 27 years in state prison.

Under New Jersey's No Early Release Act he must serve 85 percent of that sentence, and officials have said he is expected to be deported to Mexico once he is freed.

According to coverage of the trial, the State Police dispatcher who handled the call was fired over the way the emergency was managed. The State Police did not publicly detail what the dispatcher had done wrong.

New Jersey has for years routed many cell phone 911 calls to State Police regional centers rather than to local departments, which may explain why a state dispatcher took the report of a street attack in Parsippany. Rengal had been jailed since his arrest in 2007 and remained in state custody as his appeals moved through the courts.