Trial Scheduled in Carjacking Case
One of two men who authorities say carjacked a couple in Sherman Oaks, raped the wife and beat the husband should face trial on the allegations, a judge ruled Wednesday.
Brian Lyn Richie, 24, was held to answer on charges of rape, sodomy, oral copulation, kidnapping and robbery by Municipal Judge John P. Doyle. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of life in prison, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Eduards Abele.
Richie and his alleged accomplice, Joseph Navar Downey, are accused of kidnapping a married Covina couple in their 20s who were parked in a Ford pickup behind the Ventura, a private banquet hall on Ventura Boulevard near Stern Avenue, about 10 p.m. Feb. 16. One of the men was armed.
The men allegedly took turns raping the woman, robbed the couple of money and jewelry and tried fruitlessly to withdraw money from the husband’s already empty bank account through an automated teller machine.
Downey is already awaiting trial on related charges.
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