Jury Urged to Give Sanchez Death Penalty

Ventura County prosecutors Friday urged jurors to return a death sentence for convicted serial rapist and murderer Vincent Sanchez, arguing that his crimes warranted the most extreme punishment under the law.

Defense lawyers, meanwhile, told jurors in closing arguments that their client, whom they described as a “pathetic loser,” no longer posed a danger and should be imprisoned for the rest of his life.

“Mr. Sanchez is a small man who commits crimes against women,” Chief Deputy Public Defender Neil Quinn argued. “Society has been protected now and has been protected since the day he was arrested.”

Sanchez was convicted Aug. 5 of first-degree murder, kidnapping, attempted rape and related special circumstance allegations in the July 2001 death of Megan Barroso.

During a day and a half of closing arguments in the penalty phase of the trial, prosecutors recounted a series of rapes, kidnappings and assaults committed by Sanchez that led up to the slaying of Barroso, a 20-year-old Moorpark College student who was shot in her car and then dragged away and sexually assaulted.

“She didn’t deserve to die,” Chief Deputy Dist. Atty. Lela Henke-Dobroth told jurors Friday. “He does, and that is the bottom line.”

The day before, Senior Deputy Dist. Atty. Dee Corona described Sanchez, 32, as an “evil and perverted” man who crept into the homes of women and raped them at knifepoint.

Prosecutors replayed a videotape of the defendant raping a 20-year-old woman, identified as Tara, as she screamed and begged him to stop. Police found the tape during a search of Sanchez’s Simi Valley residence. Sanchez is already facing life in prison for a string of rape convictions.

Quinn argued that a death sentence should be returned only when necessary and said Sanchez would be severely punished by a life sentence without possibility of parole. He told jurors that prosecutors had tried to stir their emotions and urged them not to be swayed by anger or outrage.

The jury is expected to begin deliberations next week.