1/8/2008

By SHARON MONTAGUE

Salina Journal

Jesus Berriozabal, 26, could face multiple life prison sentences after a 12-person jury found him guilty Monday of rape, attempted rape and two counts of aggravated criminal sodomy.

The guilty verdict came at the conclusion of a four-day trial in Saline County District Court. Jurors began deliberating Berriozabal's fate shortly before 11 a.m., and they announced about 3:15 p.m. that they had reached a verdict.

Berriozabal had been out of jail on bond for about a year, as he awaited trial. But after jurors announced their verdict, District Judge Jerome Hellmer revoked Berriozabal's bond and ordered that he be taken into custody. He left the courtroom with sheriff's officers, restrained in handcuffs attached to a belly chain and leg irons.

Sentencing was set for 9 a.m. March 7.

Prosecutor Christina Trocheck, an assistant Saline County attorney, said that because the victim is under the age of 14, Berriozabal faces a life sentence with a minimum of 25 years in prison on each of the four counts. However, the judge could order that the sentences be served at the same time.

Berriozabal was charged with raping the 11-year-old daughter of his live-in girlfriend on July 4, 2006, while the girl's mother and sister were away from the house. A second rape was thwarted three days later when the girl's older sister returned unexpectedly to the home and saw Berriozabal, naked, on top of her sister. The older girl told her mother, who took the victim to Salina Regional Health Center for a rape exam.

As they deliberated Berriozabal's fate Monday, jurors asked to have read back to them the testimony of Mary Alice Weed, the nurse who examined the victim at the hospital. Weed testified that she noticed redness in the girl's vaginal area that was consistent with the girl's allegation of abuse. She also noticed what she believed was a healed tear that also was consistent with abuse.

The allegations were reported to police the night of July 7, 2006. Officers testified that they were unable to find Berriozabal to question him about the allegations.

Trocheck told jurors, in her closing statement, that Berriozabal, fearful of arrest, fled to Mexico immediately after being caught with the young victim. He took only a few pieces of clothing and about $7,000 he had saved. The money was to have been used to take his girlfriend and her family to Mexico.

Mom made it up

Defense attorney Mark Dinkel, of the Salina Regional Public Defender's Office, told jurors in his closing statement that the girl's allegations were concocted by her mother, who was angry at Berriozabal.

Dinkel said that Berriozabal left work early on July 7, 2006, because he had received a phone call from a family member, who told him that his father was deathly ill. He said Berriozabal told the girl's mother that, instead of taking her and her family to Mexico, he was going to go alone to see his ailing father.

Dinkel said the girlfriend told Berriozabal that if he left her and went to Mexico, none of his belongings would be there when he returned. And shortly after Berriozabal's departure, Dinkel said, the mother and her friends took Berriozabal's furniture and electronic equipment and put them in storage.

Later, Dinkel said, the woman reported to police that the items had been stolen, and she blamed Berriozabal for the theft.

Trocheck told jurors she wasn't disputing the fact that the victim's mother wasn't a good mother.

But the trial, she said, wasn't about the mother, but about the girl, who has, for more than a year, maintained her allegation that she was sexually abused by Berriozabal. During that time, Trocheck said, the girl, who went to live with her grandparents in Kansas City, has had very little contact with her mother.

Trocheck cautioned jurors not to get caught up in what happened to Berriozabal's property.

"It doesn't matter," Trocheck said. "These things have nothing to do with what happened to (the girl). Don't let yourselves get distracted by that."

Had no reason to lie

Trocheck told jurors that the victim had no motive to lie.

"If she wanted to get the defendant into trouble, why would she choose to allege sexual abuse?" Trocheck asked.

After making the allegations, the girl, who is now 13, had to go through an uncomfortable and embarrassing rape exam at Salina Regional Health Center. She had to tell a police investigator, whom she had never met, the details of the assaults, and testify twice in court.

The girl also was taken away from her mother, whom she loved and wanted to be with.

"What did she gain?" Trocheck asked. The victim "has no incentive to lie about what happened."

nReporter Sharon Montague can be reached at 822-1411 or by e-mail at smontague@salina.com.

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