Court Orders Teenage Rape Suspects Tried as Adults

Calling them “animals” for allegedly raping an unconscious girl, a Juvenile Court commissioner Friday ordered two teenage boys to be tried as adults.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Commissioner Jack Gold also berated Alejandro Zamora, 16, and Jose Sanchez, 17, for not helping a 16-year-old classmate from Birmingham High School who had passed out from drinking alcohol during a ditch party.

“Instead, what they decided to do was not just rape her but brutalize her,” Gold said. “She had gaping tears. She had bite marks. She was bleeding. These guys were like animals.”

The teenagers have confessed to the rape, according to statements made in court and a police report.

While Zamora had no criminal record, Sanchez was arrested when he was 15 for possessing a loaded firearm and was sentenced last September, a couple of months before the alleged attack on the girl.

“This court put him on probation,” Gold said. “Maybe it’s my fault. I should have sent him to [juvenile] camp at that time. . . . We had a chance to rehabilitate Sanchez. It didn’t work.”

Along with at least a dozen other youths, Zamora, Sanchez and the girl skipped school Dec. 1 and attended a party at the Van Nuys house of another teenager, whose parents were away at work.

After the girl passed out from drinking, she was carried into a room where, behind a locked and guarded door, several boys took turns sexually assaulting her, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Dan Feldstern. She was in that room for more than an hour.

Only when another party-goer called the girl’s family was she taken to a hospital. She had a blood alcohol level of at least 0.32% and was unconscious for about 15 hours, attorneys said.

When she awoke, she didn’t remember what had happened. But a medical examination of the bruised and battered girl showed trauma that “would be consistent with a serial rape,” Feldstern said.

Police arrested six youths on suspicion of assaulting the girl. To date, four have been charged. Last month, a 14-year-old Van Nuys boy pleaded no contest to being an accessory to rape and was sentenced to juvenile camp. Sanchez’s older brother Nathaniel, 18, is accused of attempted rape and faces a preliminary hearing in Van Nuys Superior Court on Feb. 1.

Police are awaiting the results of a DNA test.

In court Friday, Zamora and Sanchez appeared in bright orange juvenile hall clothing. They did not look at their mothers, who sat weeping in the back of the courtroom.

Defense attorneys said they believed the boys do not belong in adult court.

Zamora, who had never been in trouble with the law before, would benefit more from the juvenile system, which focuses on rehabilitation rather than punishment, said his lawyer, Joe F. Cuadros.

“I don’t wish to dirty up the victim, but this was a very interesting situation,” said Charles Hamel, who represents Sanchez. “She voluntarily got intoxicated. . . . My client was also intoxicated at the time.”

“We’re not saying it was her fault, but these are some of the equities that must be looked at. She wasn’t exactly forced to go to these [parties],” said Hamel. “She exposed herself to the possibility of this.”

Sanchez was very cooperative when interviewed and answered questions for about half an hour, said Det. Michelle Blizzard of the LAPD’s Van Nuys station, when questioned by Hamel.

Both boys waived their Miranda rights “and gave statements admitting their part in the rape,” Feldstern said. A 13-page police report, submitted to the court Friday, also details the confessions.

Attorneys would be looking to see if the boys’ statements to police had been lawfully obtained or if police questioning had been coercive. “There are a lot of questions about those admissions,” Hamel said.

“Maybe [the boys] were being honorable . . . for being candid, about owning up to their responsibilities,” Hamel said.

Gold said the teenagers deserved to be tried as adults because of the gravity of the offense and their degree of criminal sophistication. He also noted Sanchez’s prior record.

Their bail was set at $50,000 each. Both are expected to be charged in Van Nuys Superior Court next week.