Trial Ordered for Paroled Rapist Accused in Attack
Killer-rapist William Archie Fain, whose release caused a public outcry, has been ordered to stand trial on charges of attempting to rape a preschool teacher and slashing her face.
After a six-week preliminary hearing, Fain, 42, was ordered to appear in Alameda County Superior Court in Oakland on June 17 when a trial date will be set.
Fain was paroled in 1983 after serving 16 years in prison for murdering a 17-year-old boy and raping two 16-year-old girls near the Stanislaus County town of Oakdale.
Public outcry followed news of his scheduled release, and the state parole board canceled it. State courts ruled the action illegal and ordered him freed. Gov. George Deukmejian then tried to block his parole, but the courts ruled against the governor.
Fain, who remains in custody without bail, is charged in a Jan. 22 attack on Jean Marie James at the Montessori Children’s Center in Hayward.
He is accused of breaking into the school, throwing the 20-year-old woman to the ground, straddling her and slashing her from the upper lip to the nose.
Fain has pleaded innocent.
Since his release, Fain has been convicted and sentenced to jail for loitering in San Jose and drunk driving in Santa Cruz and Fremont.
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