CANYON COUNTRY MAN FACES TRIAL IN RAPE, 2 BURGLARIES.Byline: Laurence Darmiento Daily News Staff Writer A Canyon Country construction worker was ordered Thursday to stand trial in a rape and two burglaries at the ground floor apartments of three women at a Sierra Highway Sierra Highway is a road in Southern California, United States. It runs from Tunnel Station near the north limit of the City of Los Angeles, where it intersects with San Fernando Road and Foothill Boulevard, as well as Interstate 5, and continues north to Mojave, mostly paralleling apartment complex. After a preliminary hearing in Newhall Municipal Court, a judge found sufficient evidence for Russell Wyatt Pierce, 38, to go to trial on seven felony felony (fĕl`ənē), any grave crime, in contrast to a misdemeanor, that is so declared in statute or was so considered in common law. counts, including five counts of sexual assault and two counts of burglary. The incidents occurred over a six-month period at the Park Sierra Apartments, starting in September with a burglary and culminating in February with the rape of a woman in her bed, officials said. A husband and father to two young children, Pierce is scheduled to be arraigned April 11 in North Valley Superior Court. His bail remains at $300,000. The rape victim was spared having to appear Thursday at the hearing under a speedy-trial law that allowed a detective to testify To provide evidence as a witness, subject to an oath or affirmation, in order to establish a particular fact or set of facts. Court rules require witnesses to testify about the facts they know that are relevant to the determination of the outcome of the case. in her place, but the two other women did take the stand to testify about the burglaries, which officials said had sexual overtones. In the first incident, Amy Aubele said she awoke a·woke v. A past tense of awake. awoke Verb a past tense and (now rare or dialectal) past participle of awake at 3:50 a.m. Sept. 14 to find that blinds on her windows had been pushed back in her bedroom even though she had left them closed upon going to bed. ``I never leave them that way. I'm on the first floor,'' Aubele said. ``It was pitch black in the apartment. . . . I realized the night light had been unplugged.'' Aubele, who lived alone, said she tried to call 911 but couldn't find the cordless telephone A cordless telephone or portable telephone is a telephone with a wireless handset which communicates via radio waves with a base station connected to a fixed telephone line (POTS) and can only be operated near (typically within 100 meters or 328 ft from) its base station she had placed next to her on her bed. Upon making her way to the living room, she found her telephone had been unplugged also. ``That's when I realized I wasn't imagining anything,'' she said. ``Someone had been in there to do all that stuff.'' Deputies later found that the burglar BURGLAR. One who commits a burglary. (q. v.) , who never confronted Aubele, had entered through a locked window, simply pushing at it and forcing it open and then cutting through a screen, she said. Two weeks later, the burglar entered her apartment again, leaving her a note, Aubele testified. Earlier in the hearing, Lisa Wong recounted how Jan. 17 she was taking an early morning shower after her husband had left for work when she discovered a man had entered her bathroom. ``I noticed there was a shadow in my bathroom. I thought my husband had possibly come back. I pulled back the curtain to see who it was,'' she said. ``I screamed . . . `Get the hell out of my house.' '' She said the man ran off, and she later found a credit card had been taken from her wallet. Deputies believe the man entered through her attached garage. Just over two weeks later, on Feb. 2, officials said, Pierce raped a woman as she slept in bed, disconnecting lights so he could not be identified. Detective Catherine Kotler testified the woman awoke about 1 p.m. to find a man on top of her. Kotler said the man raped the woman before placing her in a closet and telling her not to come out until she counted to 1,000. Pierce was arrested three days later after sheriff's detectives said they traced to him purchases made over the telephone with Wong's stolen credit card. After learning he was wanted, deputies said, Pierce sought counseling from his minister, turned himself in and confessed to the two burglaries and rape. Deputies have said Pierce has a prior felony conviction for burglarizing a woman's apartment. Another detective, the last witness at the hearing, testified to the confession. Afterward af·ter·ward also af·ter·wards adv. At a later time; subsequently. Adv. 1. afterward - happening at a time subsequent to a reference time; "he apologized subsequently"; "he's going to the store but he'll be back here , Kotler said DNA tests DNA test n → DNS-Test m are being conducted from body fluid found at the rape scene. Pierce was ordered Thursday to submit to an HIV test HIV test Various tests have been used to detect HIV and production of antibodies thereto; some HTs shown below are no longer actively used, but are listed for completeness and context. See HIV, Immunoblot. , allowed under state law if requested by a rape victim. Kotler said the man also will have to provide a blood sample for genetic testing Genetic Testing Definition A genetic test examines the genetic information contained inside a person's cells, called DNA, to determine if that person has or will develop a certain disease or could pass a disease to his or her offspring. . Pierce's wife attended the hearing, smiling at her husband as he mouthed the words ``I love you'' to her several times. A companion said she did not want to make any comments. CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: (SAC Sac: see Sac and Fox. SAC - 1. An early system on the Datatron 200 series. [Listed in CACM 2(5):16 (May 1959)]. only--color) Russell Wyatt Pierce will be tried on seven counts. David Crane/Daily News |
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