Opinion ID: 2637824
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The other assaults

Text: Two weeks before Sophia's murder, on November 3, 1996, Maria M., then aged 16, was walking to work at a nearby discount mall in La Joya Plaza, taking her usual shortcut through an alleyway. As she exited the alley and entered a pedestrian walkway into the mall property, a man she later identified as defendant grabbed her from behind with one arm and held a knife blade against her neck with his other arm. Maria tried to pull away, but defendant held her tighter, grabbed her by her hair, and pulled her about 180 feet back into the alleyway. Defendant untied her shirt and tried to take off her belt and unzip her pants. When Maria asked what he wanted, defendant replied, I want you. I want to mark your beautiful face. Maria believed that defendant wanted to rape her. Defendant tried to kiss her and his breath smelled like [c]hocolate with peanuts, like a Snickers bar. As Maria continued to struggle, a young man appeared in the alley and yelled at defendant. Defendant pushed Maria away from him, but then punched her in the face. Defendant then ran off. The young man came to Maria's aid and called the police. Maria later realized that her pager was missing. One month later, Maria identified defendant as her attacker when police presented her with a six-person photographic lineup that included a picture of defendant. Maria was 100 percent certain that the photograph was of her attacker.
Just over two weeks after Sophia's murder, on December 2, 1996, about 6:15 p.m., Laura Z. was leaving her job at a department store in the Town Center mall in Santa Maria. As she walked toward her truck, which was parked in the mall's parking structure, Laura noticed defendant standing on the side of the ramp, leaning against a wall. After Laura got inside her truck and closed her door, she saw defendant running behind her. Laura reacted by immediately locking her door, just before defendant reached it and tried lifting the truck's door handle. Defendant looked from side to side, as if he was surprised that the door was locked. Defendant then pointed to his wrist and asked Laura what time it was. She replied, I don't know. Defendant then looked around again and ran away. Laura believed defendant's intentions were bad or evil, and was frightened by the encounter. After she drove home, Laura told her husband about the incident, and he called the police. A few days later, the police showed Laura a photographic lineup, and she identified defendant's photograph as that of her assailant. On a scale of one to 10, Laura rated her certainty about her identification as a 10.
Two days after the incident with Laura Z., on December 4, 1996, about 9:00 or 9:30 p.m., Sabrina P. was leaving her job at the Town Center mall. Sabrina's mother was supposed to pick her up, so she waited while seated on a bench outside the mall. Soon after Sabrina sat down, defendant appeared from behind a cement wall of the parking structure and started walking toward her while looking from right to left. Defendant sat down next to Sabrina with his shoulder touching hers, pulled out a small knife, and held it against her right side, saying, Don't move, don't scream and I won't have to stab you. Defendant told Sabrina to come with him, but she said she was not going anywhere because she had just called her mother, who would be arriving any second. She believed that defendant intended to rape her. Defendant repeated his demand that Sabrina go with him, but then said, Get your hand off my knife. Sabrina suddenly realized that she had grabbed the handle of defendant's knife. She refused to let go of the knife, thinking he might stab her if she did. As they stood up and struggled over the knife, Sabrina began to scream, and defendant grabbed her other wrist with his free hand. A motorcyclist passed by, but appeared not to hear Sabrina's screams. During their struggle, defendant said, Okay, I'll leave. Just give me my knife. Just let go of my knife and I'll leave. After further struggling, defendant let go of the knife and walked away calmly as if nothing had happened. As defendant slowly walked away, he turned around and smirked. Sabrina told him that he would not get away with what he did. She made a point of observing defendant carefully as he walked out of view so she was certain of what he looked like and what he was wearing. Sabrina, still holding the knife in her hand, then ran to a nearby restaurant and pounded on the door but a woman inside refused to open it. Sabrina pleaded for the woman to let her in; the woman still refused but agreed to call 911. The 911 operator convinced the woman to let Sabrina into the restaurant, where she got on the phone and described defendant. While Sabrina was on the phone with the 911 operator, Santa Maria Police Officer Jeff Lopez received a call from dispatch regarding a possible attempted kidnapping outside the mall restaurant. The dispatch operator described the suspect as a Hispanic male wearing a black, hooded sweatshirt. After driving through the mall's parking structure, Officer Lopez saw a person matching that description riding a bicycle down an adjacent street. That person was defendant. Defendant made eye contact with Officer Lopez, but began to pedal faster. Officer Lopez could not maneuver his patrol car over to stop defendant because a traffic island prevented him from crossing the street. Instead, Officer Lopez radioed to other officers, who intercepted defendant and detained him. Officer Lopez arrived at the scene of defendant's detention, told defendant to identify himself, and asked where he was coming from and where he was going. Defendant admitted he had come from the mall and was going home, but Officer Lopez pointed out that defendant had been headed in the opposite direction from his home address. Defendant then claimed he was going to his cousin's place on Boone Street first, although he was unable to give Officer Lopez a specific address. Officer Lopez pointed out that Boone Street was also in a direction opposite to that in which defendant had been traveling. Defendant claimed he might have gotten lost. Officer Lopez then asked defendant to sit down on the curb. After the police arrived to meet Sabrina at the mall restaurant, they told her they had already detained someone nearby who matched the description she had provided. Santa Maria Police Officer Al Torres took her to the location where defendant was being detained, and Sabrina identified him without a doubt or a second guess.