Attorneys Wrangle Over Previous Allegations In Sex Abuse Case
ST. CHARLES, Ill. (STMW) -- Facing a multitude of sex assault charges, Jose Mendoza-Sosa decided he didn't want to be his own attorney after all.
Sosa, 46, last of Aurora, tried get rid of his public defender on two occasions — the judge denied the request both times — because of "heated disputes" and "several disagreements" over the handling of the case.
He filed a motion in April declaring he wanted to represent himself because the judge "had left him no other alternatives." Sosa withdrew the request during a Wednesday hearing, a move that allows his attorney to fight prosecutors' attempt to introduce evidence of previous sexual abuse allegations against Sosa by two young relatives.
Prosecutors in Kane and DuPage counties charged Sosa in 2012 with multiple counts of criminal sexual assault involving 10- and 15-year-old family members. He is accused of raping, sodomizing and engaging in other sex acts with the female relatives in August 2012. Court records indicate the assaults took place in Sosa's Aurora home and in a Naperville motel during August 2012. One of the females was abused in both locations, according to prosecutors and court documents.
Prosecutors want a judge to allow them to introduce information they say shows that Sosa had sexually abused the relatives over the course of several years in Mexico and Indiana. They also want to reference the DuPage County case, which stems from an assault that occurred around the time of the Kane incident, according to court records.
Assistant Public Defender Eun Yoon has filed her own motion seeking to bar any mention of the DuPage County case, including a reference by one of the relatives to seeing a naked Sosa on top of the other relative in the Naperville motel room, court records show.
Yoon also does not want a potential jury to hear allegations that Sosa refused to take a polygraph test or to learn details of his immigration status, the motion states.
Sosa has pleaded not guilty to the charges in both the Kane and DuPage cases. In previous court filings, he suggested the allegations were fabricated by the relative who later recanted. Sosa returns to court May 8.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2014. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
