Expert Describes Shots Fired Into Slain Student’s Vehicle

A gunman wielding an assault rifle stood less than 5 feet from the front bumper of the car driven by Moorpark College student Megan Barroso when he pulled the trigger of his semiautomatic weapon, a firearms expert testified Friday at the trial of her accused killer.

James Roberts, an analyst with the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department, testified that based on bullet holes, cartridge casings and other evidence found at the crime scene, the gunman fired one shot into the hood, three into the windshield and one into the driver’s door.

Two of the windshield shots were fired in close proximity to each other, and one of the bullets nicked the left side of the driver’s headrest. Roberts said the third bullet broke apart after hitting the bottom of the windshield and scattered inside the car.

The testimony is significant for defendant Vincent Sanchez, 32, of Simi Valley, who stands accused of killing Barroso, 20, during an alleged rape and kidnapping on July 5, 2001.

Defense lawyers do not dispute that Sanchez fatally shot Barroso, but they contend there was no rape attempt or kidnapping.

Chief Deputy Public Defender Neil Quinn told jurors in his opening statement earlier this month that evidence would show Sanchez aimed to kill -- not kidnap. Quinn characterized the shooting as an act of drunken road rage by a troubled man who went out looking for his estranged girlfriend that night and found Barroso instead.

But Chief Deputy Dist. Atty. Lela Henke-Dobroth tried to show, using Robert’s testimony, that Sanchez, an admitted serial rapist, was aiming to stop Barroso’s car so he could abduct and rape her.

The prosecution theory is that Sanchez chased her on the Moorpark Freeway and passed her as she exited at New Los Angeles Avenue in Moorpark. They say he then got out of his truck and began shooting at her as her car came to a stop at the end of the offramp.

Roberts was called to the crime scene July 5, about five hours after Barroso’s bullet-riddled car was found abandoned in the westbound lane of New Los Angeles Avenue near the offramp. A forensic scientist specializing in firearms, Roberts spent subsequent months conducting tests and compiling measurements to explain how the shooting occurred. This is what he determined:

There were six bullet holes in Barroso’s car and six cartridge cases found in or around the intersection. Five of the bullet holes -- those in the windshield, hood and driver’s door -- followed a similar pattern and appeared to match up with cartridge cases found in the area.

The pattern suggests that the gunman stood outside the crosswalk about 5 feet from Barroso’s car and, while firing, stepped to his right as the car accelerated past him and turned left onto New Los Angeles Avenue, where it crashed over the center median.

Barroso, who had been out with friends that night, lived about a mile from that location and was on her way home, according to court testimony.

Prosecutors contend that Sanchez removed her from the crashed car and took her to another location, where he tried to rape her and where she later died from an abdominal gunshot wound. Her body was found Aug. 4, 2001, in a ravine near Simi Valley.

Roberts testified that bullet fragments recovered during an autopsy matched the assault rifle taken from Sanchez’s residence. The weapon belonged to Sanchez’s roommate, Josh Reno, who is expected to testify next week that Sanchez admitted stealing the rifle and returned it. Reno turned it over to police after Sanchez became a suspect in the killing.

In analyzing the rifle, Roberts determined that five cartridge cases found at the intersection had been chambered in the weapon, and a cleaning rod found at the scene also fit the Hungarian-made firearm.

As for the sixth shot, which was fired into the rear passenger door of Barroso’s car, Roberts testified that he has “no clue” where that shooting occurred. He testified that based on the angle and height of the bullet hole, the gunman probably fired one shot into the back of the car during a freeway chase that occurred before the shooting at the intersection.A sixth cartridge case was found in the intersection, but Roberts testified that he believes it was ejected from the assault rifle in Sanchez’s truck, and fell out when he stepped into the intersection.

“It is one reasonable scenario,” Roberts testified.

Prosecutors contend that Sanchez tried to run Barroso off the highway, and shot the car to disable it so he could then kidnap and rape her.

Sanchez has previously pleaded guilty to numerous felony charges, including kidnapping and rape, involving a dozen victims, and faces the equivalent of a life prison sentence. He remains charged with first-degree murder with special-circumstance allegations that Barroso was killed during an attempted rape and kidnapping. If proven, the allegations would allow prosecutors to ask for the death penalty.

On Friday, Quinn called the prosecution’s sixth-bullet theory “pure speculation.”