Opinion ID: 2637824
Heading Depth: 6
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The assault on Laura Z.

Text: 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.