Time to get yo' freak on in The House, Iggy.
Posted on 05/03/2007 3:39:04 PM PDT by SmithL
OAKLAND - Ignacio De La Fuente Jr. admitted in court this morning to raping and sexual assaulting four women he picked up on the streets of Fruitvale, bringing an abrupt end to what was becoming a sensational trial.
In exchange for pleading guilt, De La Fuente Jr. will not face the 25 years to life in prison he would have if a jury convicted him of the five charges filed against him.
Instead he will remain behind bars until at least his 46th birthday. He will also be classified for the rest of his life as a sexual predator.
Three of the four women De La Fuente admitted assaulting were admitted prostitutes. The fourth denied being a prostitute and said she was kidnapped by the 34-year-old.
De La Fuente Jr. wiped tears from his eyes as the judge read each count and asked De La Fuente Jr. his plea. ``Guilty, your honor,'' De La Fuente Jr. said after each count.
Meanwhile his father, City Council President Ignacio De La Fuente, sitting in the galley, rubbed his eyes and shook his leg as the pleas were entered. At times he stared at his son. Other family members, including his mother, cried. De La Fuente and the rest of his family left the courtroom without comment.
Deputy District Attorney Brian Owens said the plea was not a surprise given the testimony of three of the women. ``The witnesses were credible and their testimony powerful,'' Owens said. ``I believe that is why he decided to no longer fight and admit his guilt.''
However, attorneys for De La Fuente Jr., the father and daughter defense team of Robert and Anne Beles, continued to question the victims' credibility.
``I thought the complaining witnesses that testified did very poorly their credibility was impeached,'' Robert Beles said.
But, Beles said, the fact that their were four witnesses caused a ``cumulative effect'' that was overwhelming for De La Fuente Jr.
``It's his decision to take a compromise,'' Beles said.
De La Fuente Jr. will be sentenced to 14 years behind bars but is eligible for parole after 12 years, Owens said. If the jury had convicted De La Fuente Jr. of all five counts, he would have faced 25 years to life behind bars because of enhancements that were placed on each charge such as kidnapping.
Time to get yo' freak on in The House, Iggy.
12 years? If he really kidnapped and raped these women, he should have gotten a lot more than that, even in a plea bargain. But it sounds like the case may have been weak.
Why did the prosecutor plead this out? It looked like a slam dunk case.
Awe, was he crying when he raperd and assualted her.
Scumbag that he is.
“rubbed his eyes and shook his leg” had he just come out of the swimming pool?
These people (the defendant, his attorneys, and his family) are complete and utter scum. They have no concept of what justice is. The punk is guilty, which is what he swore to in court. They should all shut the hell up about anything else. The punk is guilty. Have some shame.
He deserves a much longer sentence, but at least he gets some justice. Even one year in prison is no day at the park.
I was puzzled. Maybe it wasn’t as clear as it seemed - judging from the testimony, I would suspect some of the victims were prostitutes and therefore the situation might have come down to a simple price dispute. But it wasn’t very clear. That said, maybe it wasn’t very clear to anybody, so perhaps that’s why it ended as it did. I don’t live in CA anymore and I don’t follow the press there, so I don’t know.
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