Man guilty in '01 rape
Posted on 12/05/2002 3:26:47 AM PST by MeekOneGOP
Man guilty in '01 rape
Jury takes 25 minutes to return verdict
12/05/2002
FORT WORTH - A Tarrant County jury took 25 minutes Wednesday morning to convict a Cleburne man of sexually assaulting a mother while four children slept nearby.
The jury of eight women and four men found Manuel Salamanca Jr., 31, a former hospital lab worker, guilty in the Aug. 9, 2001, attack.
A sentencing hearing, which included testimony from three other rape victims, began Wednesday in the 213th District Court. Jurors on Thursday are expected to decide on Mr. Salamanca's punishment, which ranges from five to 99 years in prison.
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Mr. Salamanca, arrested May 24 in Arlington after attempting to break into a woman's home, showed no emotion as the verdict was read. His attorney, Danny Pitzer, declined to comment.
Prosecutor David Montague said he was pleased. He said Johnson County prosecutors will probably be next to try Mr. Salamanca, who has been indicted in nine attacks in Tarrant and Johnson counties.
"A couple of stacked life sentences would be good," Mr. Montague said when asked how he would like to see the cases resolved.
Prosecutors expect to put on a final witness Thursday, then allow the defense to present its sentencing-phase evidence.
Minutes after jurors rendered their verdict, prosecutors began calling other women to the stand to describe in graphic detail how they were raped.
An Arlington woman, 30, told jurors how in August 1996, a man broke out her car window with a knife then raped her on the ground.
An elementary school assistant and mother of a 14-year-old boy described how she was attacked in April 1999 by a man who surprised her in her home by putting a knife to her throat.
"I didn't think it was happening," the woman said tearfully. "I thought it was a dream."
A 30-year-old woman described a terrifying attack at her Burleson home in 2000.
She at one point testified that, "He said, 'Would you rather be murdered or raped?' I said, 'Raped.' ... I was just waiting for a knife to slash across my throat."
None of the women could identify Mr. Salamanca because they were either blindfolded or the assailant was wearing a mask, according to their testimony.
Prosecutors said that DNA evidence tied the man to the attacks.
Mr. Pitzer, the defense attorney, questioned that evidence. He said DNA is not conclusive, and he argued that labs can - and do - make mistakes.
E-mail jtrahan@dallasnews.com
Suspect in series of (Cleburne & Burleson) rapes arrested
$800,000 bail is set
Please let me know if you want ON or OFF my Texas ping list!. . .don't be shy.
No, you don't HAVE to be a Texan to get on this list!
Seeings he is heading for a jail, let me be his warden. A couple of nails through the nuts into a stump and give him a push backwards would be my first choice of working out his rehabilitation plan.
Why shoot just once?
Woman attacked, attempted rape suspect dies of multiple shotgun blasts to groin - Woman says "It seemed like it took forever for the him to bleed to death!"
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