Santa Rosa Man Pleads No Contest To Charge In Alleged Torture Case
SANTA ROSA (CBS SF) -- A Santa Rosa man who was charged with sexually assaulting and torturing a woman he allegedly held captive on his Sonoma County ranch pleaded no contest Thursday morning to one count of assault likely to produce great bodily injury.
Jose Angel Barajas-Mireles, 35, will be sentenced in Sonoma County Superior Court on Dec. 15 to six years in prison as part of a plea agreement. Following a preliminary hearing in March, he was ordered to stand trial on seven felony charges, including rape, oral copulation, sodomy and torture.
Conspiracy and false imprisonment charges filed against two alleged accomplices were dismissed in March.
Baraja-Mireles' attorney Andy Martinez said during the court proceedings that the 22-year-old victim worked for the defendant's painting business, had consensual sex with him during the time she lived on his Stony Point Road ranch west of Santa Rosa and was never held captive.
"Her original story was nowhere near the truth," Martinez said.
The victim, identified as Jane Doe, went to the Petaluma Police Department on Feb. 18 to report she was kidnapped at gunpoint three weeks earlier, held against her will and was beaten and sexually assaulted. She said she escaped when someone on the ranch left a door open.
A week later, the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office, which investigated the incident, issued a statement saying the woman was not kidnapped but initially said so "out of an overwhelming fear of retaliation coupled with the traumatic events she endured."
Deputy District Attorney Chris Honigsberg said the prosecution agreed to the plea agreement in which six of the seven felony counts will be dismissed at sentencing because he could not prove the case at trial beyond a reasonable doubt.
Honigsberg also said the victim told conflicting stories and there was conflicting evidence on an iPhone.
Martinez said Barajas-Mireles admitted domestic violence was part of the relationship with the victim.
At the preliminary hearing, photographs were shown of injuries on the victim's body that allegedly were made with a phone charger cord.
Barajas-Mireles faced life in prison if he were convicted of the seven felony counts with torture enhancements, Martinez said.
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