ELYRIA — The man accused of brutally beating, shooting and sexually assaulting a Carlisle Township woman while she hiked in the Lorain County Metro Parks last year pleaded guilty today.

Matthew Plas, 36, showed no emotion as Lorain County Common Pleas Judge Edward Zaleski ran through the litany of charge against him — attempted rape, tampering with evidence, gross sexual imposition, carrying a concealed weapons, having weapons under disability, two counts each of felonious assault and attempted murder, three counts of aggravated robbery and five counts of kidnapping, most of which carried firearms specifications that will add prison time to Plas’ eventual sentence.

Plas could get up to 72 years behind bars when he is sentenced later this year, Assistant County Prosecutor Peter Gauthier said during the hearing.

The victim in the case, Shawn Stevens, who was paralyzed from the waist down from the injuries she sustained during the May 6, 2008, attack, was not in the courtroom, but is expected to speak at Plas’ sentencing.

Stevens was hiking alone when Plas attacked her, sexually assaulted her and shot her in the back. He left her for dead before returning and carrying her back to his car. He was loading her in the vehicle’s trunk when passers-by stopped to ask if something was wrong and Stevens cried out for help.

Plas sped off and was pursued by the Good Samaritans and police as Stevens hung on to the still-open trunk of the car. He dropped Stevens behind a building before ditching his car and fleeing on foot.

He was later arrested after being found hiding in a swampy area of Carlisle Reservation.

For more on this story, see Wednesday’s Chronicle.