Slaying Suspect Ordered to Trial

A Simi Valley handyman who admitted gunning down a 20-year-old college student with an assault rifle last summer was ordered Thursday to stand trial on charges of murder, kidnapping and attempted rape.

Vincent Sanchez, 31, could face the death penalty if convicted of murder and allegations that the killing occurred during an abduction and sexual assault.

Defense attorneys conceded during a preliminary hearing in Ventura County Superior Court that Sanchez fatally shot Moorpark resident Megan Barroso and dumped her body in a ravine.

But they urged Judge Ken Riley to throw out the kidnapping and rape charges, arguing the district attorney’s evidence was too weak to proceed to trial.

Riley agreed there was insufficient evidence of rape, but ordered Sanchez to stand trial on suspicion of attempted rape.

“We are very pleased,” said Chief Deputy Dist. Atty. Lela Henke-Dobroth, who argued that Sanchez was a serial rapist who tried to add Barroso to his list of victims.

Sanchez faces multiple life prison sentences after admitting to raping and assaulting nearly a dozen women in Simi Valley during a string of prowler-style attacks between 1996 and 2001.

Chief Deputy Public Defender Neil Quinn told reporters that his client is ready to settle the Barroso case by pleading guilty to murder, but not the related allegations.

“He is ready to take responsibility for what he did,” Quinn said. “He cannot ever give that life back, but he is prepared to spend the rest of his life in prison.”

But prosecutors, who decided to seek the death penalty after reviewing Sanchez’s criminal history, say they have no interest in a plea bargain and are ready to proceed to trial.

“He clearly is the type of individual who it is appropriate to seek the death penalty for,” Henke-Dobroth said. “That is our position and it will remain our position.”

Barroso’s bullet-riddled car was found abandoned near a freeway overpass in Moorpark in the early morning hours of July 5. Her remains were recovered a month later in a canyon near Simi Valley.

Ballistic evidence showed six shots were fired at close range from a high-powered rifle, and casings were later matched to an AK-47 assault rifle seized from the defendant’s house in Simi Valley.

The coroner determined that Barroso, a Moorpark Community College student, died from a gunshot to the abdomen.

During the preliminary hearing, prosecutors argued that Sanchez shot up the car, then abducted and sexually assaulted Barroso before she died. They noted that Barroso was found wearing only a T-shirt and panties and argued that Sanchez’s prior sex crimes were evidence of a propensity to stalk and rape women.

But defense attorneys called the prosecution theory illogical and inconsistent. In the prior rape cases, Sanchez studied his victims and carefully planned the attacks, cutting phone lines and unscrewing porch lights before slipping into victims’ homes through windows or unlocked doors. According to court testimony, he wore gloves and ski masks and usually used a knife to subdue his victims.

Quinn said Barroso’s shooting was different--a sudden encounter with an assault rifle. If Sanchez had wanted to rape Barroso, the lawyer suggested, he would not have used lethal force.

“That is no way to accomplish a rape,” he told Riley.

Quinn further argued that prosecutors presented no physical evidence to support an attempted rape charge. Although Barroso was found unclothed, her body was so decomposed that the coroner could not determine whether a sexual assault had occurred.

And Quinn questioned whether Barroso may have been unconscious or dead at the time of the alleged kidnapping and sexual assault given the lack of evidence of a struggle inside the car.

Although those arguments did not persuade the judge to throw out the kidnapping and attempted rape charges, Quinn said prosecutors will have a tougher time convincing a jury.

“I am very mindful that at a preliminary hearing the standard of proof is low compared to the standard at trial,” he said. “I don’t think a jury would logically convict.”

However, given Sanchez’s notoriety as a serial rapist, Quinn said he worries a jury could convict based solely on emotions. It is one reason he intends to argue for a change of venue before trial.

In addition to the murder and kidnapping charges, Sanchez is charged with six felony counts involving alleged attacks on five other women.

Quinn conceded in his closing arguments that Sanchez committed a 1999 carjacking as part of a sexual assault on a 20-year-old Simi Valley woman. But he disputed two other alleged carjackings, arguing that there is no evidence the victims were in possession of their vehicles at the time they were taken.

Quinn also disputed allegations that his client attempted to run a Simi Valley woman off the road during a high-speed freeway chase in October 2000. The woman testified during the preliminary hearing that Sanchez tried six times to ram her car with his white truck as she drove home from work one night.

Prosecutors contend Sanchez was trying to run down a potential sex assault victim during that episode. They charged him with attempted kidnapping and assault with a deadly weapon.

Riley found sufficient evidence to order Sanchez to stand trial on those counts as well. A trial date is expected to be set May 13.