Sanchez Trial Winds Down

A Ventura County jury heard final testimony Wednesday in the trial of a serial rapist accused of killing a 20-year-old Moorpark College student two years ago during an alleged kidnapping and rape attempt.

Prosecutors put on a brief rebuttal case focusing on the observations of a commuter who saw victim Megan Barroso’s abandoned car after defendant Vincent Sanchez allegedly shot her in the stomach and pulled her from the disabled vehicle.

Edward Lukas told jurors he saw the car as he drove to work about 2:55 a.m. on July 5, 2001. The vehicle was facing the wrong direction in the center median of New Los Angeles Avenue, near California 23, and appeared to have a gunshot through the windshield.

“There was no one else in the area,” the witness testified.

Lukas told jurors the driver’s side door was slightly open and it appeared the window was broken. He said the headlights were on and he observed a shoe and a piece of fabric on the ground a few feet away.

Witnesses previously testified that they heard gunshots about 3 a.m. Law enforcement officers arrived on the scene about an hour later to find Barroso missing and blood inside the car. Her remains were found a month later in a ravine near Simi Valley. The coroner determined she died from a gunshot wound to the abdomen, but was unable to establish whether she had been sexually assaulted.

Sanchez, a 32-year-old unemployed handyman from Simi Valley and an admitted serial rapist, is not contesting that he shot and killed Barroso with an AK-47 assault rifle. But he contends there was no sexual assault.

If convicted of first-degree murder during the course of a kidnapping or an attempted rape, Sanchez could be sentenced to death.

Closing arguments are scheduled to begin Monday.