Sanchez Admits Killing Student; Prosecutors Refuse to Accept Plea

A Simi Valley handyman admitted in court Thursday to fatally shooting college student Megan Barroso but prosecutors refused to accept his plea, telling a judge that Vincent Sanchez must admit to premeditated first-degree murder or face a jury trial.

While accepting Sanchez’s admissions to raping and assaulting 10 other women, Chief Deputy Dist. Atty. Lela Henke-Dobroth told the court she could not accept his proposed second-degree murder plea in the Barroso slaying.

Henke-Dobroth said doing so would allow Sanchez to plead guilty to a lesser crime when authorities believe he intentionally shot, kidnapped and attempted to rape the 20-year-old Moorpark College student.

The refusal angered Chief Deputy Public Defender Neil Quinn, who accused prosecutors of manipulating the case just so they could pursue the death penalty for his client.

Sanchez, who now faces multiple life sentences, could be executed if found guilty of first-degree murder and the related rape and kidnapping allegations.

“He attempted to plead guilty to murder and the district attorney rejected that attempt,” Quinn said after Thursday’s hearing. “I have no doubt [prosecutors] will maneuver the case so they can seek the death penalty.”

Quinn said his 31-year-old client admits fatally shooting Barroso in the abdomen on July 5 as she drove home from a friend’s house in Thousand Oaks, but he denies kidnapping or attempting to rape Barroso.

Barroso’s bullet-riddled rental car was found idling under a freeway overpass along California 23. Her body was found a month later in a steep ravine near Simi Valley.

“He wanted to accept responsibility for what he did,” Quinn said.

But Henke-Dobroth told the court it legally could not accept Sanchez’s proposed murder plea, because the grand jury indicted him on what amounted to premeditated first-degree murder.

“The defendant is pleading to something less than what the people have alleged,” Henke-Dobroth argued. “We oppose it.”

Based on the objection, Superior Court Judge Edward Brodie entered not guilty pleas on Sanchez’s behalf and set a Nov. 26 trial date on charges of murder, kidnapping, attempted rape and kidnapping with intent to commit rape.

Sanchez will also stand trial on 11 unrelated charges, including carjacking, assault, attempted kidnapping and rape.

But the bulk of charges contained in a massive grand jury indictment were cleared away Thursday as Sanchez pleaded guilty to 59 counts in connection with a string of sexual assaults that terrorized Simi Valley residents for five years.

Those crimes had stumped Simi Valley police until two months ago, when Sanchez was arrested on burglary charges. While in jail, he called his housemates and asked them to throw out some trash bags.

Suspicious, the roommates searched the bags and found videotapes, photos and women’s underwear that detectives eventually linked to some of the attacks.

During Thursday’s hearing, Sanchez pleaded guilty to raping seven women between September 1996 and July of this year. In nearly all of those attacks, Sanchez admitted breaking into the victims’ homes and raping them at knifepoint.

In addition to those rapes, Sanchez pleaded guilty to assaulting three other women with the intent to commit rape. He also admitted to more than 100 related allegations ranging from using a knife to causing bodily injury to the victims.

It took a full hour for Sanchez to respond to each of the charges listed in a 34-page indictment. Sitting between his defense lawyers, Sanchez rarely looked up from his plea form as Henke-Dobroth repeatedly asked if he admitted to the crimes.

“Do you understand,” she said at one point, “you will receive multiple life sentences and spend the rest of your life in prison?”

“Yes,” Sanchez said softly.

Brodie later reiterated the point and asked Sanchez if he knew what he was doing by pleading guilty.

“The chance of you ever getting a parole hearing is zero,” the judge said. “Do you have any questions about what you are doing?”

Sanchez shook his head.

“No, sir, I don’t,” he said.

Much of Thursday’s court session was taken up by the debate between defense lawyers and prosecutors over Sanchez’s proposed plea in Barroso’s death.

And that debate may not be over.

Quinn said after the hearing that he wants the kidnapping and attempted rape allegations related to Barroso’s death dismissed because he believes they are speculative.

“There was no attempt to rape Megan Barroso,” he said, adding that he plans to file a motion contesting the allegation.

Reached Thursday evening, Art Barroso, Megan’s father, said he wanted to keep his words to a minimum based on concerns that excessive pretrial publicity could lead to the case being moved out of the county.

“All of this is expected, but none of it is easy,” he said. “I hope he gets a fair trial, but I hope justice is done.”

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Times staff writer Jenifer Ragland contributed to this story.