Rape Testimony Called Prejudicial

Saying the evidence is so prejudicial it will bias a jury in the upcoming murder trial, defense lawyers are asking a judge to bar testimony about a dozen rapes and sexual assaults allegedly committed by Vincent Sanchez.

Sanchez, 31, an unemployed handyman, is facing multiple life prison sentences after admitting he sexually assaulted several women in Simi Valley and the western San Fernando Valley between September 1996 and July 2001.

He is also accused of fatally shooting Moorpark College student Megan Barroso, 20, last year during an attempted rape and kidnapping--allegations that make him eligible for the death penalty.

Prosecutors want evidence of the earlier sexual assaults included during Sanchez’s murder trial. But defense lawyers contend evidence of those crimes would stir the emotions of jurors and prevent a fair trial.

Chief Deputy Public Defender Neil Quinn raised the issue Tuesday during a hearing in Ventura County Superior Court.

Quinn contends evidence of the sexual assaults should not have been presented to the grand jury that indicted his client Sept. 4 because it is inconsistent with evidence from Barroso’s killing.

Barroso was shot with an assault rifle while driving home from a party in the early hours of July 5. Quinn suggested that if his client intended to rape Barroso, he would not have fired six shots from an AK-47 into her rental car.

“It has all the earmarks of some kind of explosion of rage,” Quinn argued. “It doesn’t look like a rape.”

One of the bullets struck Barroso in her abdomen. County Medical Examiner Ronald O’Halloran told the grand jury that Barroso probably did not die immediately, instead bleeding internally for minutes or even hours.

Her body was found Aug. 4 at the bottom of a steep ravine in Black Canyon, just outside Simi Valley.

Barroso was clad only in a T-shirt and panties, but the medical examiner could not determine whether she had been sexually assaulted.

Ventura County prosecutors contend there are striking similarities between the killing and the prior attacks on women.

Senior Deputy Dist. Atty. Dee Corona argued that Sanchez kept clothing and other trophies from his rape victims.

Barroso’s jacket was found during a search of Sanchez’s home. Corona also noted that one of the prior assaults occurred near the location where Barroso was shot.

“His plan is to rape people,” Corona said. “It’s all the same.”

Corona said it was proper that evidence of those crimes was given to the grand jury and should be allowed at Sanchez’s murder trial.

The hearing is scheduled to resume today, and Judge Ken Riley is expected to rule in about a week.