CASTAIC TEEN CLEARED IN SCHOOL RAPE CASE.Byline: Mary Schubert Daily News Staff Writer A 17-year-old boy, jailed nearly four months on charges of raping a classmate at Saugus High School Saugus High School may refer to:
Three felony counts were dropped against Castaic resident Jesus Alejandro Rodriguez, who had been charged as an adult although he turned 17 on Saturday. Last month, a Sylmar Juvenile Court juvenile court Special court handling problems of delinquent, neglected, or abused children. Two types of cases are processed by a juvenile court: civil matters, often concerning care of an abandoned or impoverished child, and criminal matters, arising from antisocial judge ruled that Rodriguez was unfit to be tried as a minor and ordered the case transferred to San Fernando San Fernando, city, Argentina San Fernando (săn fərnăn`dō), city (1991 pop. 144,761), Buenos Aires prov., E Argentina. It is a district administrative center in the Greater Buenos Aires area. Municipal Court. Rodriguez pleaded not guilty to the charges last month during his arraignment A criminal proceeding at which the defendant is officially called before a court of competent jurisdiction, informed of the offense charged in the complaint, information, indictment, or other charging document, and asked to enter a plea of guilty, not guilty, or as otherwise permitted . The prosecution's case hinged on testimony from the 15-year-old victim, a Saugus High classmate who reported the May 27 attack, said Deputy District Attorney Carolyn McNary. On Tuesday, a scheduled preliminary hearing was pre-empted when McNary told Municipal Court Commissioner Gerald Richardson that the girl, whose name was withheld, didn't want to proceed in open court. By contrast, Juvenile Court proceedings are confidential. ``She has the right not to testify. You can't force a victim of sexual assault to testify,'' McNary said after the court hearing. ``No other victim can refuse to come to court. But (sexual assault victims), by law, have the right not to testify,'' she said. Meanwhile, McNary filed a restraining order restraining order: see injunction. requiring Rodriguez to stay away from the girl and not ``harass'' her, she told Richardson during the court hearing. ``This case will be filed again,'' she told the teen, handcuffed and wearing an orange jail jumpsuit, while warning him to adhere to adhere to verb 1. follow, keep, maintain, respect, observe, be true, fulfil, obey, heed, keep to, abide by, be loyal, mind, be constant, be faithful 2. the terms of the restraining order or face prosecution. Deputy Public Defender public defender, governmental official who represents indigent persons accused of crime. U.S. Supreme Court decisions expanding the right to counsel to pretrial proceedings and holding that a person cannot be sentenced to even one day in jail unless a lawyer was Richard Petherbridge explained the motion to dismiss the charges to family and friends of Rodriguez, who he said goes by the name Alex rather than his first name. Petherbridge said the teen, who has been held in Juvenile Hall rather than with adult inmates in the Los Angeles County jail system, will be released from custody this week. ``I don't want her anywhere near him,'' one family friend said outside court, telling Petherbridge that they want Rodriguez's accuser to stay away from him, even if that means filing a restraining order against the girl. He had been charged with one count each of rape with a foreign object, attempted rape and false imprisonment false imprisonment, complete restraint upon a person's liberty of movement without legal justification. Actual physical contact is not necessary; a show of authority or a threat of force is sufficient. The person falsely imprisoned may sue the offender for damages. in the incident, which took place during school hours on campus. Authorities said the incident was not a date rape date rape n. forcible sexual intercourse by a male acquaintance of a woman, during a voluntary social engagement in which the woman did not intend to submit to the sexual advances and resisted the acts by verbal refusals, denials or pleas to stop, and/or physical . Rodriguez had faced a state prison term and one ``strike'' on his criminal record if he had been convicted. At the time of his arrest, authorities described Rodriguez as a gang member on probation for a variety of offenses. McNary said decisions about Rodriguez's school status will fall to the William S. Hart Union High School District now that he's not the subject of prosecution. The Hart district has an expulsion committee of administrators and school principals who review student offenses and decide whether a case merits an expulsion hearing. |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion