Opinion ID: 2671522
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Attempted murder of Rhonda Jetmore

Text: In January 1989, Rhonda Jetmore was seated on a bench on Main Street in the City of Lake Elsinore (Lake Elsinore), ―hoping to encounter a date.‖ A man drove a station wagon alongside the curb near where she was sitting, and confirmed that he was looking for a ―date.‖ He moved a box containing files of papers from the front passenger seat to the backseats, where there were more papers, and she entered his vehicle. He told her his name was ―Bob,‖ they agreed on a price of $20 for ―straight sex,‖ and she directed him to a nearby vacant residence. Once inside, Jetmore requested prepayment for her services. The man handed her a bill and, using her flashlight, she determined it was a single dollar. Before she could say anything, he grabbed her around her neck with both hands, pushed her down, and began choking her. As he choked her, she looked at his face, and also noticed his belt buckle, which had ―Bill‖ spelled on it. She felt she was losing consciousness, and she believed he was attempting to kill her. When she realized she still had her flashlight, she struck him with it on the side of his head, and he released his grip on her neck. They struggled as she attempted to escape, and his eyeglasses, which had a wire or metal frame, came off. Her 3 assailant agreed to let her leave if she assisted him in finding his glasses. She spotted them with her flashlight, and escaped as he retrieved them. She did not report the assault until she was contacted later in January 1989 by the Riverside County Sheriff‘s Department regarding a different matter. She informed a sheriff‘s deputy of the name on the belt buckle, and of her perception that the assailant had responded when she called him ―Bill.‖ When she was contacted again in 1992 by the sheriff‘s department, she selected defendant‘s photograph from a group of six photographs, and she recalled that he drove a light-colored station wagon. She identified defendant at trial, and stated she had no doubt that he was her assailant. At the time of the attack on Jetmore in January 1989, defendant was living with Bonnie Ashley in Lake Elsinore. Ashley identified defendant in photographs in which he was wearing wire-rimmed glasses and a belt buckle with the name ―Bill‖ on it. She kept real estate documents and other papers in her vehicle, and defendant sometimes drove her vehicle, which was a white station wagon.