Santa Paula Man Sentenced to 65 Years to Life in Rape Attempt

A Ventura County judge sentenced a three-time felon to 65 years to life in prison Tuesday for an attempted rape, then scolded the defendant before his weeping children for letting them believe he was innocent.

“You have thrown your life away,” Superior Court Judge James P. Cloninger told defendant Terry Stephenson of Santa Paula. “But you have a decision about whether to throw their lives away as well.”

Stephenson, a 37-year-old soda company deliveryman, was convicted in June of carjacking, kidnapping, deadly assault and assault with intent to commit rape.

Despite a defense of mistaken identity, a jury concluded Stephenson abducted a Ventura middle school nutritionist on the morning of Jan. 7, 2000, as she walked from her pickup truck to her office.

According to court testimony, he dragged the 52-year-old woman to her truck, drove five miles to a church parking lot and ordered her to remove her clothes.

When she refused and fought him off, eventually falling out of the truck while screaming for help, Stephenson beat and kicked her in the face before running off.

“I don’t believe you intended for her to leave the parking lot alive,” Cloninger said during Tuesday’s sentencing hearing.

Cloninger declined to strike Stephenson’s three prior felony convictions that mandated a 25-year-to-life sentence under the state’s three-strikes law.

He added 27 years for the carjacking, 10 years for two of the prior convictions and three years for causing serious injury to the victim.

After explaining the sentence, Cloninger held up two letters from Stephenson’s teenage sons.

He remarked that the boys clearly loved their father and believed he was innocent.

Speaking “as a father and a man,” the judge urged Stephenson to admit his crimes to his children so they don’t grow up believing he was treated unfairly by the criminal justice system.

“They’ve been misled,” the judge said, as Stephenson wept at the counsel table. “And they deserve the truth.”

Cloninger’s remarks brought a dramatic end to a three-hour hearing in which defense attorneys pushed hard for a new trial.

Attorney Michael Plaut, who recently took over the case, argued that there was no evidence to suggest Stephenson intended to rape the victim. He also raised allegations of jury misconduct, ineffective lawyering by a previous attorney and improper police tactics.

Stephenson was arrested a few days after the attack. His wife’s car was found across the street from the school, and the victim identified him from a photo lineup.

At trial, she testified that she got a good look at his face and recognized him as the deliveryman who often stood by her desk eating from a candy jar while she signed the delivery papers.

Plaut argued that Stephenson’s trial lawyer should have pushed harder to challenge that identification.

But Cloninger denied the defense motion, finding there was nothing to suggest Stephenson had received an unfair trial.

The defense also sought to strike Stephenson’s prior convictions, which would have significantly reduced his prison sentence.

Stephenson was convicted of commercial robbery in 1982 and two bank robberies in 1986. Plaut argued that his client had struggled with alcohol and drug abuse during that time but has since turned his life around.

But Cloninger refused to disregard the prior felonies, stating: “The three-strikes law was made for people like the defendant.”

Deputy Dist. Atty. William Karr said that the victim, who was not in court Tuesday, was frustrated by the delay in sentencing caused by Stephenson’s change of attorneys.

Karr said she continues to struggle emotionally and physically. Her nose was broken and several teeth were chipped. Her fractured jaw was wired shut. And she still suffers from headaches, she told jurors at trial.

“It has been very difficult for her,” Karr said. “It will affect her for the rest of her life.”