Terry Johnson was within a day of being released from an Illinois prison this year when Dane County authorities charged him with a 10-year-old rape, linking him to the crime with the help of a national DNA database.

Instead of walking free, Johnson was sentenced Thursday to 45 years in prison for the 1998 kidnapping and rape of an 18-year-old woman he dragged into a wooded area along West Badger Road in the town of Madison.

"I struggle to find anything redeeming about this individual," Dane County Circuit Judge Stuart Schwartz said of Johnson, 29, who was near the end of a five-year sentence for aggravated battery in Illinois when he was charged Jan. 9 with the rape.

Johnson pleaded no contest on June 30 to kidnapping and second-degree sexual assault. As part of a plea agreement, two battery charges against Johnson — for an attack on another Dane County Jail inmate on March 31 — were dismissed but could be considered by Schwartz for sentencing purposes.

Because the crime predates the existing "Truth in Sentencing" structure, Johnson will be eligible for parole after serving one-quarter of the 45-year sentence and must be released on parole after serving two-thirds.

"I want to apologize for everything that's gone on, if I caused any mental disability or whatever," Johnson told Schwartz. The victim in the rape case was seated in the courtroom with her parents. She declined to speak, but gave a statement for a pre-sentence report outlining the traumatic effect the attack had on her.

The woman was walking home from a medical appointment on Sept. 16, 1998, when Johnson, whom she did not know, approached her and asked her if she was OK. He asked her if she wanted cocaine, and she declined. Johnson then grabbed her and dragged her to the wooded area and assaulted her.

Afterward, the woman got dressed and was again on West Badger Road when Johnson ran up behind her, pulled her black leather jacket off and ran away with it.

In court Thursday, Johnson said he was not the man who did it but said he pleaded no contest "because I didn't know exactly what that was leading to." But Schwartz said that in light of the DNA evidence, which showed there is a one in a quadrillion chance Johnson was not the attacker, there was ample proof that he was guilty.

Schwartz said Johnson showed "absolutely no empathy for the victim. I've heard no remorse."

Johnson was linked to the case after town of Madison police in 2003 sent a DNA sample from the attack to the state Crime Laboratory, which entered it into the national DNA database. A match to Johnson was found in 2006.

Town of Madison police Detective Robb Hale got another DNA sample from Johnson in November and the match was confirmed on Nov. 29.

Assistant District Attorney Shelly Rusch said Johnson was serving time in Illinois for strangling and later stabbing his cousin, who had given him a place to live. She said he was also a gang member and was selling drugs by the time he was 12 years old.